I Can't Hear Myself Think
by Ziirroh
Summary: Ruby Rose is a new student at Beacon, but soon after she arrives, strange things begin to happen…Students are disappearing, and strange noises can be heard in the halls. Circumstances gradually worsen, and eventually, Beacon is no longer livable, and Ruby decides that she must escape. Experience her adventure, as well as her unique condition. A RWBYQuest novelization.
1. The Quest begins

**A/N: Yet another fic dedicated to the adventure of RWBY Quest. This time revolving around Ruby's _unique_ condition. Only in Rubes' POV. I'll be writing this along with the release of any RWBY Quest updates. I'm hoping to be able to portray the thoughts of Ruby, something that we don't always get to see. It's kinda like those Twitch Plays Pokemon fics, I guess, but maybe less intense.**

**Edit 2/07/16 [ALL]: Lots of fixes for the earlier chapters; mostly grammatical and tidying up the bits that didn't flow properly. Added more "thoughts" into the story where they weren't previously, and altered some of the others to match up with Quest more accurately. A major update for chapter 35, as apparently I accidentally left out a large segment of the Quest (whoops).**

* * *

Ruby stands in her dark dorm room. This will be the day. Today, she is escaping from school. She doesn't know what time it is, but it's dark outside.

She has a lot on her mind. Too much. The only clear thought that stands out to her is that she needs to find her friends and escape with them. Save herself and them.

Beacon is not safe.

Something tells her that she should look through her inventory to find something to brighten up the place. She has a flashlight and spare batteries, but she decides to save those for when she really needs them. Instead she walks over to the light switch on the wall and flicks it on.

The room becomes illuminated by the fluorescent lights overhead, and she finds that she is alone in the room. Even though she can clearly see this, something whispers in the back of her mind to search the bunks. She does so, and further confirms that she is the only one in here.

Another thought crosses her mind, telling her to scour the bookshelf for a heavy book that she could swing around easily. Ruby's not sure why she would want to do that with a book, but she goes to look for one anyway, finding a large tome labeled Beacon: A History.

Thoughts of her beloved weapon, Crescent Rose, hover in her mind, but she knows that it lies in the armory inside her personal locker. She intends to retrieve it soon, after figuring out where her friends are. With this thought in mind she heads toward the door and takes a step outside.

She looks down the hall and immediately spots her partner, Weiss Schnee, on the floor. She looks fearful and is crawling backwards away from something. Then Ruby sees a strange dark creature looming over the pale girl and slowly approaching her.

Being weaponless Ruby had no way to attack, then she remembered the heavy book. Guess it was a good thing she grabbed it.

Using her Semblance Ruby rushes to the rescue, slamming the giant textbook over the creature's head. She hears its skull crack from the impact, but the creature ignores her, as if nothing had happened, and continues its advance on Weiss.

A flurry of thoughts invade Ruby's mind, telling her to pick up Weiss and run. However it seems the dark creature had the same thought, as it scoops up Weiss before Ruby can react.

Ruby remembers that she's carrying a flashlight and pulls it out. She turns it on and shines the bright light into the monster's eyes, hoping to blind it or that it would drop Weiss trying to shield its eyes. It recoils and turns to flee down the hallway, taking Weiss with it.

A sudden thought urges Ruby to tell Weiss to knee the creature in the face. Though when she shouts this command out to her, the pale girl does not respond and remains motionless, seemingly too shocked to do anything.

Multiple ideas race through her mind, all of them leading to a single thought.

Okay! Time to try something else!

Ruby activates her Semblance again and chases after the monster. She almost reaches them but the monster doesn't even look at her. Suddenly a pain erupts from her chest, and her vision fills with rose red blood spraying from a large cut.

Ruby falls to the floor, body numb and twitching slightly. She tastes the blood in her mouth and can feel it pool around her body. She feels so tired. Slowly her eye lids begin to flutter and close.

Everything goes black.

Wake up.

Ruby's eyes shoot open and quickly flick back and forth, surveying her immediate surroundings. She notices that she's no longer lying on the hard tile floor of the hall, but in the comforting embrace of a soft bed and covers.

Slowly sitting up she glances down at her body to find her torso completely wrapped in sterile white bandages. Someone had found her and dressed her wounds.

She looks around the room again and sees two figures standing not too far from her.

Oh hey!

Ruby knows these guys. She tries to sit up and call their attention but a sharp pain stops her. Her chest still hurts. There's also a brief throbbing in her head as she hears…voices?

Where's Weiss!?

Check inventory.

Identify companions.

Ruby first checks her inventory, finding that she no longer has the textbook or flashlight. She must have dropped them in the hall.

The two figures see that she's awake and approach. It's Blake and Ren.

She asks them about the monster and Weiss. Ren tells her that she was the only one they found after hearing all the commotion.

"Are you sure of what you saw?" He asks her. "These days, they do things to your brain."

Ruby isn't sure how to reply to that. Instead she looks to Blake and inquires what kind of items they have.

"Do you have any weapons?"

The two shrug and Blake informs her that their weapons are also in their lockers. Ruby sighs, she already knew that would be the answer, but it didn't hurt to ask anyway.

She asks Blake if they might have anything that can be used as a weapon. Blake procures a metal rod of some sort. She tells Ruby that she would rather hold on to it though, considering the condition Ruby is in, she doesn't want to be without protection.

Perform self diagnosis of chest wounds.

Ruby examines her injuries. She's doing pretty well considering that she took a direct hit.

She begins to activate her aura in order to speed up the healing process, but Blake stops her. Tells her that she should conserve her aura, that it would take too much out of her and she should rest.

Ruby doesn't want to rest.

She needs to find Weiss.

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**A/N: So I'll end chapter one there; seems to be a decent place to stop. I don't want to make chapters too long, even though the flow of reading would be easier with longer chapters. We'll see how you guys like it, if it bothers you too much then I'll make longer chapters. That just means it'll take longer for updates to appear. In case you were wondering, this chapter is about 883 words, excluding the A/N. Not a lot I know. As I said, if you think longer chapters would be better let me know, otherwise they'll all be near 1k words (when including A/N) depending on the content. Tell me your thoughts of this chapter overall in a review. I would very much like to hear your opinions. Thank you for reading!**


	2. Going Outside

**A/N: Okay. I decided to just randomize the length of the chapters since I'm too lazy to keep them all the same. Besides, some parts make for really good cliffhangers XD. Anyways enjoy chapter 2~**

* * *

Ruby looks around the room and recognizes that it's team JNPR's dorm.

Her head aches again. It's like there are hundreds of voices screaming at her all at once.

Ren and Blake are acting strange. Ruby wonders what's going on. She has to find Weiss.

Talk to the others in the room.

Ruby is puzzled by this thought. There are no others in the room. Why would she even think that?

She asks about the whereabouts of the rest of team JNPR. Ren looks at her strangely, like as if she asked something she should already know.

"That's not funny Ruby. You know Jaune and Nora are missing." He says.

Ruby sweats a little, feeling uncomfortable with Ren's stare. She tells him she meant to say where's Pyrrha. He doesn't know.

"I just hope that she's okay." He says.

Ruby asks them if they've seen a flashlight and a large book while they went out to get her. Blake nods and gives them back to her.

She asks them if they might have any information at all about the situation at Beacon. They shake their heads. They only know just as much as Ruby. They have no clue on what's happening.

Ruby suggests they go to the armory to retrieve their weapons, the other two agree. She puts her shirt and cloak back on. She thinks she can make it, even with her injury. The natural aura process will take care of her wound. Even if Blake says to conserve her aura, she can't stop the natural process of things.

Ruby is getting fed up with not knowing anything. She needs to find answers as well as her friends.

The three discuss whether leaving through the window is a good idea or not. Ruby doesn't really want to roam the hallways after her encounter with the robed monster. On the other hand, it's a fair distance to the ground. They would have to find a way to climb down safely. While they discuss their options a sudden realization hits her.

What about Yang?

Ruby asks Blake if she's seen Yang or may know where she's at. Blake gives her a reassuring smile.

"Yang is probably outside somewhere. We should keep an eye out for her as we go to the armory."

Ruby nods in agreement and they continue discussing their plan of exit.

Ruby comes up with a brilliant idea. She tells the other two that if they tie the bed sheets together they can use it as a makeshift rope to climb out the window. They agree to this and tie the sheets together as well as a lengthy rope they manage to find in the room. Now it's long enough for them to safely make their escape out the window.

Ruby peers out the window before opening it. It's very dark outside and there's not much to see, but the coast looks clear. Ruby turns to look at the others and gives them a thumbs up.

Ruby opens the window and proceeds to lower their makeshift rope over the sill.

RUN RUBY AND FRIENDS, THERE'S A MONSTER!

The thought emerges suddenly, almost sounding as if somewhere were yelling right next to her.

Ruby quickly spins around to look out the window once more to find…nothing.

Ruby brushes it off as paranoia from not knowing what's going on and nearly dying from the odd creature.

Then a great idea pops into Ruby's mind. She should put her cape away so that it doesn't get caught on anything while she climbs down. Good ideas. Ruby is just full of them.

She lowers the rope the rest of the way until it can't go any further, and turns to face her friends. Ruby tells her teammates in what order they should climb down the rope.

She suggests that Blake go first, since she has a weapon. Ren would go next since he is in good health. Making Ruby last due to her injuries causing it to be difficult to react quickly. They all agree to this and proceed down the "rope".

On the way down, Ruby hears Blake call up saying it seems clear. She trusts Blake and her superior night vision.

"The stars look nice." Ren comments.

Ruby wants to find Weiss, Yang, and Crescent Rose.

The trip down is uneventful. The rope holds, but creaks ominously a few times, as though the fabric itself was threatening to tear. Blake, who went first brandishing her metal rod, says the coast is clear. Ruby and Ren climb down after her.

It is dark. It is very, very dark. Hardly anything can be seen.

Inventory check!

Ruby finds out that Ren is holding a note. It's labelled with Nora's name on it. He has nothing else other than that. Blake only has her metal rod, as she stated earlier in the room. Ruby still has her flashlight, spare batteries, book, and cloak.

Ask Ren if he's feeling okay.

Ruby looks over to him, he looks tired. Ruby asks him if he's okay and he slowly nods his head, an unconvincing frown still on his face.

"I'm alright, just worried. I want Jaune and Nora to come home now. I want to find Pyrrha." He looks even more distressed as he says this.

Ruby gives him a sympathetic smile, reassuring him that they will find her and the other two as well. He gives her a weak smile and says nothing more.

Don't waste your flashlight.

Have Blake scout ahead.

Blake, what do your Faunus eyes see?

Listen for movement.

Can Blake hear anything?

Ruby is bombarded by dozens of thoughts. It's quite overwhelming, and Ruby wishes she wasn't thinking so fast. She decides the best way to rid these thoughts is to question Blake herself.

She asks the Faunus girl if she could scout ahead using her ears and eyes. Blake has a look around.

"I can hear something moving, but I can't see what it is. Maybe it's the wind in the grass?" She says skeptically.

Ruby feels a chill crawl up her spine.

Ruby doesn't feel any wind.

Check the surroundings with your flashlight.

Flashlight time!

Ruby can only think of using the flashlight, though she's not sure if she should since she wants to save the batteries. She inquires the others on what she should do, they agree that she should conserve the batteries, but a quick look can't hurt.

Ruby turns on the flashlight. The light illuminates the area in front of her.

Nothing.

She directs the light in a different direction, to the right.

Empty.

Relief begins to fill her a bit. Maybe Blake was imagining things? She points the light to the left.

Oh.

* * *

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun! What is it that Ruby and friends have found? Find out in the next chapter of RWBY Quest. lol Unless you keep up with the comic itself, then you already know XD. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Enter King

**A/N: Sometimes I wonder if anyone is even reading this. There are views, but for all I know ya could be just taking a peek then leaving w/o actually reading. Oh well. Not like you can't go read the comic, which is way ahead of these updates. I shall catch up soon! (ὀ⌓ὀ)**

* * *

Ruby can see a pair of feet. They look, uh, human so maybe it's a friend.

Move that flash light up!

See who's out there in the grass.

Ruby moves the flashlight up.

To her relief the body is human, though whoever it is they're lacking a shirt and only wearing a green scarf. When she reaches their face what she sees astonishes her and her friends. Instead of a regular human head, this being's head is in the shape of a cube. They're wearing a crown on top their head and has a large eye in the middle. It raises a hand to shield its one eye from the beam of the flashlight, and speaks.

"Ｈｅｙ! Ｗａｔｃｈ ｗｈｅｒｅ ｙｏｕ'ｒｅ ｓｈｉｎｉｎｇ ｔｈａｔ ｔｈｉｎｇ! Ｉｔ'ｓ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｍｕｃｈ ｔｏｏ ｂｒｉｇｈｔ."

Surprisingly Ruby finds herself to be calm, though she is rather shocked when she hears him speak. She figures that it's a guy, since his voice is deep enough to sound like one.

Introduce yourself.

Ask the one-eyed thing its name.

Hesitantly, Ruby introduces herself, Ren, and Blake to the strange fellow.

"Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｙｏｕ."He says.

He seems friendly enough, but Ruby still feels wary of him. She asks him what they should call him by.

"Ｃａｌｌ ｍｅ Ｋｉｎｇ." Blood is oozing out of his eye, it looks like the light really hurts him.

Ruby lowers her flashlight slightly, as King does not seem hostile, and he lowers his hand.

"Ｔｈａｎｋ ｙｏｕ."He says with relief. "Ｗｈａｔ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｄｏｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ ｈｅｒｅ? Ｉｔ'ｓ ｎｏｔ ｓａｆｅ. Ｔｈｅ ｏｔｈｅｒｓ ｃｏｕｌｄ ａｐｐｅａｒ ａｎｙ ｍｉｎｕｔｅ."

What does he recommend we do?

See what this guy thinks of the plan.

Ask King what "the others" are.

Ruby decides that King seems trustworthy enough, since he hasn't beome hostile at all, and tells him their plans to go to the armory.

He gives her a thumbs up. "Ｇｏｏｄ ｉｄｅａ! Ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｔｈｅ 'ｏｔｈｅｒｓ' ｗｉｌｌ ｌｅｔ ｙｏｕ ｉｎ ｓｏ ｅａｓｉｌｙ."

Ruby attempts to ask him who or what the others are.

"Ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｎｏ ｔｉｍｅ ｔｏ ｅｘｐｌａｉｎ. Ｔｈｅ ｏｔｈｅｒｓ ａｒｅ ｃｏｍｉｎｇ. Ｗｅ ｈａｖｅ ｔｏ ｇｏ. ＮＯＷ." He urges them to follow his lead.

He wants to come with them. It seems that he wants to help. Everyone agrees to let him join their group.

Wear his crown, be the prettiest princess.

Ruby found this thought rather silly. She thinks her role would be fit for the knight in shining armor than the princess. Regardless she politely asks King if she could wear his crown for a while. After all, it does look really cool. King agrees to let her borrow the crown, removing it from on top of his head and gently placing it on her own.

"Ｊｕｓｔ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｔｏ ｇｉｖｅ ｉｔ ｂａｃｋ, ｏｋａｙ?" He tells her. Ruby nods her head.

Ask King what's happening in Beacon.

They're still running through the dark, though Ruby isn't sure what. She decides to use the time to ask King if he knows what's going on at Beacon. The dissappearings. The monsters.

King is quiet for a long time. His still bloodied eye looking at the ground in contemplation.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｄｉｆｆｉｃｕｌｔ ｔｏ ｅｘｐｌａｉｎ. Ｅｖｅｎ Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ. Ｎｏｔ ｙｅｔ. Ｉ'ｍ ｔｈｅ ｓａｍｅ ａｓ ｙｏｕ. Ｉ'ｍ ｊｕｓｔ ｔｒｙｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｆｉｎｄ ｏｕｔ ｗｈａｔ'ｓ ｈａｐｐｅｎｉｎｇ, ａｎｄ ｈｏｗ ｔｏ ｓｔｏｐ ｉｔ. Ｉ'ｌｌ ｔｅｌｌ ｙｏｕ ａｌｌ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈｅｎ ｗｅ ｒｅａｃｈ ａ ｓａｆｅｒ ｐｌａｃｅ."

Tell King we're looking for our friends.

Ask him if he's seen anyone.

On the way towards the academy gardens Ruby asks if King has seen anyone around. He points to the gardens.

"Ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｈｅｒｅ ａｎｄ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｅｌｓｅ ｏｎ ｔｈｅ Ｍａｉｎ Ａｖｅｎｕｅ. Ｔｈｅｙ'ｒｅ ｉｎ ｄａｎｇｅｒ, ｔｏｏ. Ｗｈａｔ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｄｏ?"

King inventory check.

Ruby asks to see what King is carrying with him.

"Ｓｕｒｅ, ｂｕｔ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔａｋｅ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ."He says.

Ruby sees that he's carrying with him a large journal, crown polish, a pen nib, and a rag. Not too odd considering what he has could be paired with another item in some way.

Blake should scout ahead.

If someone's in trouble we should go help them first.

Maybe split into two groups?

A plan develops in Ruby's mind and she discusses with the others of her idea.

"If there's two people in trouble, rescuing them in order might take too long. Blake should scout ahead, and if the nearer one is fighting something off, I will join to help while the other two stay back and go for the other person. In the event the nearer person is in terrible danger, then all of us should go help."

Blake agrees to scout out the gardens ahead and report back. She goes on ahead a few yards. The other three wait, it only takes a few minutes for her to return.

"There's someone in the gardens. Pyrrha is being attacked."

"Ｗｈａｔ ｄｉｄ ｉｔ ｌｏｏｋ ｌｉｋｅ? Ｔｈｅ ａｔｔａｃｋｅｒ." King says with a wide eye. He seem anxious. The blood that oozed from his eye previously is starting to go away.

"It was big. It was on four legs, with tiny, with tiny, skinny hind legs and huge, powerful front legs. It had no eyes, but a huge mouth full of sharp teeth."

King looks to the side, a crease of worry furrows his single eye.

"Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｔｈａｔ ｏｎｅ. Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｉｔｓ ｎａｍｅ. Ｔｉｃｋ-Ｔｏｃｋ Ｓｑｕａｒｅ Ｅｓｃａｐｅ."

* * *

**A/N: Another hostile encounter. How will Ruby fare against this one? Will she lose another friend or succeed in rescuing them, unlike Weiss. Find out in the next update (or read the comic XD). Thanks for reading!**


	4. Rescuing Pyrrha

**A/N: This one's real short, cuz I think the last paragraph made for a decent stopping point. Prolly gonna be the only one that doesn't come near the 1k words mark for a while.**

* * *

Ruby asks King if she could borrow the pen nib and the crown polish.

"Ｓｕｒｅ, ｊｕｓｔ ａｓ ｌｏｎｇ ａｓ ｙｏｕ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｔｏ ｇｉｖｅ ｔｈｅｍ ｂａｃｋ ｌａｔｅｒ. Ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ｍｙ ｃｒｏｗｎ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ."

Ruby then hands her large book to Ren, since the only thing he seems to be carrying is a note. At least the book is better than nothing.

Ask King about Tick-Tock Square Escape.

What are its strengths and weaknesses?

"King, can you tell me more about this creature you call Tick-Tock Square Escape? What are its weaknesses, what are its strengths, anything that may be useful information?" Ruby says.

"Ｔｈｅ Ｔｉｃｋ-Ｔｏｃｋ Ｓｑｕａｒｅ Ｅｓｃａｐｅ...Ｅｈ, ＴＴＳＥ, ｉｆ ＴＴＳＥ ｈａｓ ａ ｗｅａｋｐｏｉｎｔ, ｉｔ ｈａｓ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｔｈａｔ ｗｏｕｎｄｏｎ ｉｔｓ ａｒｍ. Ｐｙｒｒｈａ ｍｕｓｔ ｂｅ ａ ｇｏｏｄ ｆｉｇｈｔｅｒ ｔｏ ｗｏｕｎｄ ＴＴＳＥ. Ｍａｙｂｅ ｓｈｅ'ｓ ｇｏｔ ｓｏｍｅ ｋｉｎｄ ｏｆ ｗｅａｐｏｎ."

King placed his chin (questionable) against his hand in a thoughtful manner.

"Ｗｅ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｑｕｉｃｋ ｗｈｅｎ ｄｅａｌｉｎｇ ｗｉｔｈ ＴＴＳＥ, ａｓ ｉｔ ｉｓ ｐｏｗｅｒｆｕｌ ａｎｄ ｈａｓ ｓｔｒｏｎｇ ｊａｗｓ - ｓｔｒｏｎｇ ｅｎｏｕｇｈ ｔｏ ｃｒｕｎｃｈ ｂｏｎｅ. Ｉｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｓｍａｒｔ ｔｏ ｇｅｔ ｏｕｔ ｏｆ ｒｅａｃｈ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ ｉｔ ｇｒａｂｓ ａｎｙｏｎｅ."

Cut open its arm more.

You need something sharp.

Use the pen nib.

Use the crown.

As the thoughts flurry through her mind, she must have spoken the last one aloud because King gives her a grumpy look.

"Ｄｏ ＮＯＴ ｕｓｅ ｍｙ ｃｒｏｗｎ ａｓ ａ ｗｅａｐｏｎ. Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ, Ｉ ａｍ ｗｉｌｌｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｓａｃｒｉｆｉｃｅ ｍｙ ｐｅｎ ｎｉｂ, ａｎｄ ｓｏｍｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ. Ｆｏｒ Ｐｙｒｒｈａ'ｓ ｓａｋｅ. Ｉ ｄｏｕｂｔ ｔｈｅｒｅ ｉｓ ａ ｓｎｅａｋｙ ｗａｙ ｔｏ ｄｏ ｔｈｉｓ. Ｂｕｔ ｍａｙｂｅ ｔｈｅ ｍｏｎｓｔｅｒ ｉｓ ｆｏｃｕｓｅｄ ｏｎ Ｐｙｒｒｈａ. Ｍａｙｂｅ ｉｔ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｐａｙ ａｔｔｅｎｔｉｏｎ ｔｏ ｙｏｕ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｏｔｈｅｒｓ."

Ruby decides to go for it. It's now or never.

The group silently approaches the monster from behind. Ruby looks for Pyrrha and finds her standing across from TTSE, she's down on one knee and looks exhausted. There's a small, bloodied combat knife on the ground before her, and a pool of blood is steadily spreading at her feet.

The red haired warrior is terribly wounded, as it appears her entire left arm, just before the elbow, is missing. Blood is seeping between her fingers where her hand is trying to suppress the flow. Pyrrha is looking directly at Ruby, and their eyes meet.

Pyrrha sees you.

Motion to Pyrrha to be quiet.

Try to tell her not to give us away.

Proceed with the nib-and-polish plan.

Ruby brings a finger to her lips to tell her to be silent. Pyrrha nods her head slightly in acknowledgement.

Ruby uncaps the lid to the crown polish with a pop.

Blake shimmies over to her and whispers, "I'll hurry over to Pyrrha and try to escape with her, while you do as planned."

Ruby thinks that's a good idea. They tell Ren and King to stay back a little, but be prepared to fight in case it goes badly. Then the two disappear in a flash of rose petals and shadows.

Ruby appeared near TTSE, splashing its open wound with the crown polish successfully. Blake swoops in and quickly picks up Pyrrha, as well as her knife, and carries the injured girl in her arms while running away from the creature. Ruby waits only for a second before retreating, watching as the strange green substance of the polish fizzles on the entity's cut. She soon joins Blake and Pyrrha in their escape.

The monster released a resounding roar in pain. The monster seems really angry. It doesn't follow you when you run. King and Ren are back there too, coming after you. The monster's wound is smoking green and sizzling.

It seems Ruby and her friends may have lucked out on this one.

* * *

**A/N: Whoot! They rescued Pyrrha, seems that Ruby's luck is looking up atm. Pyrrha's not looking too good though, very worrisome. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Blood & Letters

**A/N: Ruby and friends had just rescued Pyrrha, but she's not in great shape. Will she make it? Read below to find out~**

* * *

**We need to get to safety.**

**Pyrrha is bleeding.**

**Bandage Pyrrha using the cloak.**

They ran for a while longer, to ensure that TTSE was indeed not following them, before finally stopping to take a rest.

Blake gently sets Pyrrha down and Ruby is able to clearly see her injury. She is bleeding a lot. Her aura is acting quickly and trying to close the wound, but it's not doing it fast enough and Pyrrha is worn out.

"We need something to bandage her, she's losing too much blood. We have to use what we have." Blake says to Ruby.

Panicked thoughts rush through her head as she stared at Pyrrha's bleeding stump. She was starting to feel a little dizzy, though she wasn't sure if it was because of the blood or the flurry of thoughts.

Use her cloak? That's crazy talk! This cloak means so much to her, she can't just- Ruby shakes her head to clear her mind and she looks at Pyrrha. Some things are more important right now.

Ruby unclasped her cloak and offers it to Blake. The Faunus girl looks at her with apparent shock.

"Ruby, are you sure about this? I know how important this is to you."

"It's okay. I can get a new one." Ruby says with a forced smile.

Blake takes the cape from Ruby and cuts it up. Blake takes a look at Pyrrha's wounds and begins to tremble at the sight. Ruby takes the cloths and wraps the pieces around Pyrrha's wound the best she can.

Afterwards the group figures out what to do next. It seems that they're halfway between the Gardens (behind the Beacon building) and the Avenue (in front of the Beacon building). The group decides to venture over to the Avenue.

**Inventory check.**

As they come closer to viewing the Avenue Ruby calls for an inventory check, in case they need to plan for another encounter.

Ruby now carries the flashlight, batteries, polish, and nib. King still holds his journal and rag. Blake has her pipe and Pyrrha's bloodied knife. Ren has his note and the haeaby book. It seems Pyrrha is carrying torn pieces of a note.

**Peek around the corner, see what's going on.**

Ruby tells the others to stay back a bit, while she takes a quick look around the corner of the main building. In the darkness all she can see is a light shimmering in the distance. It looks warm.

**Read Ren's note.**

**Try piecing together Pyrrha's note.**

Ruby proceeds to ask Ren to see his note from Nora. He gives her a look of distrust, holding the note away from her outstretched hand.

"Why? You've read it before."

Ruby is all out of patience. "Just give it to me- _now_."

Reluctantly he hands the note over, glaring at her all the while.

She then turns to Pyrrha and asks to see the paper scraps. Pyrrha hands them over without any conflict.

"I found them littered on the ground in a hallway. There were no more scraps where I found them though." She says.

As Ruby was handed the pieces, she noticed that Pyrrha's hand looked odd, like it was covered in smoke. However it was too dark to really tell, so she decided to pay it no heed.

Ruby uses her flashlight to read the notes. She looks at Ren's first; the note from Nora. A majority of the paper is stained red with blood and looks to be singed on one corner. This makes Ruby worry a bit, and as she reads the note her worry for Nora only grew.

_Ren_

_It's happening again._

_I'm afraid the smoke is_

_Choking me._

_I can't brea-_

The final letter on the note drags down to the corner of the page- unfinished.

Ruby's hands tremble slightly, but she steels herself and begins to examine the scraps next. She tries putting them in what seems to be their proper spots, but it doesn't help much. Most of the parts that are missing, and will be needed to make the note even remotely legible, while other parts are covered in blood. She can pick out a few words though, but it doesn't help much.

**Give the papers back.**

**Make sure everyone has a "weapon".**

Ruby returns the papers to their owners and calls everyone in for an adjustment to their inventories. Everyone has to at least have some form of weapon before venturing out into the Avenue. Ruby takes the bloody knife. Pyrrha is given the flashlight. Blake still has her metal rod and Ren the large textbook. King's pen nib is given back to him.

While giving Pyrrha the flashlight Ruby notices the strange condition of her hand again.

**Ask Pyrrha what's wrong with her hand.**

Ruby hesitantly brings up the topic of Pyrrha's hand. The red head looks down and studies it. It is giving off what appears to be smoke.

"It feels warm. Like it's burning." Pyrrha says.

Pyrrha continues to stare at her hand stoically.

**Ask Blake if she's okay.**

**Does she want to talk about Yang's disappearance?**

Ruby decides to ask Blake how she feels about Yang's disappearance. Blake turns to her suddenly.

"If I'm okay? OKAY?!" She screeches. "Weiss was ABDUCTED. We don't even KNOW where Yang is. And you want to know if I'm OKAY? Weiss and Yang are my TEAMMATES. Yang is my partner and your sister. She's...They're both precious to me." She looks down solemnly toward the ground.

"Sorry," Ruby mumbles. "I'm worried too."

"Let's just find Yang and Weiss and get out of here." Blake turns around without giving Ruby another look.

* * *

**A/N: Gosh Blake, rude XD. Nah she has her reasons, but still, I think she could've used a chill pill. As for Pyrrha, what's going on with her? Keep reading to find out, or check out the comic! Thanks for reading~**


	6. Glow of Warmth

**A/N: Don't go towards the light! Hahah. Looks like you'll get to see what that light is all about now.**

* * *

Go check out what's happening on Main Avenue.

The group is quiet for a while, an awkward nervousness settling over them. Ruby breaks the silence to announce that they should go on toward the light she saw earlier.

As the light draws nearer Ruby can tell that it is a campfire, but there's also a shadowy figure near it. It seems whoever it is heard their approach.

"Ｗｈｏ'ｓ ｔｈｅｒｅ?"

The voice rings with a strong familiarity. Ruby knows this voice, and it seems Blake does too. Ruby concentrates her focus on the person before them, trying to catch any of noticeable details. She recognizes long golden hair.

Ruby begins to feel ecstatic to finally find her sister, though she seems kind of eerie. Her eyes are a constant red glow, as if her Semblance is being activated nonstop. She didn't know whether to go forward or flee from the person before her. She almost didn't want to know if it was her sister; she didn't want to face the disappointment of this person not being Yang.

Blake and Ruby only should call out for Yang.

Keep your weapon at ready just in case.

Don't get any closer until we know for sure.

Blake stands beside Ruby, wearing a similar expression of worry. The two call out Yang's name.

"Yang? Yang, is that you?" Ruby says quietly.

"...r uby?"

"Yang, it's us. Are you okay?" Blake's voice wavers, tears beginning to trail down her face.

Yang looks away briefly, Ruby fearing that she didn't recognize them. Yang faces them.

"What are you two dorks talking about?" Yamg says cheerfully. "Hahahaha! Hey guys." She waves to the two.

Ruby's fears quickly subside and her melancholic look is replaced with an unamused expression. Blake wipes her oncoming tears away and smiles.

"It's pretty dark, so I lit up a fire." Yang points to the campfire between them. "It seems to keep them away."

Inventoy check for Yang.

Ruby decides to see what Yang has on her. She's got her music player, headphones, and some weird horn looking object. Ruby's not really sure what it is, but figures she'll ask about it later. Right now she's just relieved to know that Yang's still alive.

Ruby asks her why she has her music player and not a weapon.

"A girl's gotta have her music!"

Tell Blake to smooch Yang big time right now!

They might not get another chance.

Ruby would suggest this, but it seems Blake doesn't need to be told!

Blake walks up to Yang and plants a kiss on the blonde's lips, making her eyes grow wide and her banana strand of hair stand on end. Ruby places her hands on both sides of her cheeks, blushing a little, and grins like a dork. Ren remains stoic, while Pyrrha gave a thumbs up with her only hand. Meanwhile King looks on in confusion, Ruby hearing him say "Why tho".

After their smooch Ruby gets caught up in the moment and goes over to Yang to plant a kiss on her cheek. She was so glad her big sis was safe. Blake and Pyrrha smile at the interaction. King continues to watch them incredulously.

"Ｓｅｒｉｏｕｓｌｙ ｇｕｙｓ ｃ'ｍｏｎ."

Think of how hard you could be smooching Weiss right now.

Ruby blushes at the thought, as her face starts to match her namesake. "Oh man." She says to herself, embarrassed. Why would such thoughts about her partner pop up at a time like this? Not that she wouldn't mind smooching Weiss.

Shaking her head to rid herself of such lewd thoughts she looks at Yang and sees that her eyes are still glowing red.

"Yang why are your eyes red?"

"What do you mean?" It seems Yang is not aware of it, or is avoiding the question. Ruby decides not to prod any further.

Ask Yang about the horn thing.

Has she seen anybody else?

Does she know what's happening?

How is Yang's condition.

Ruby first asks about the strange object.

"This thing? I tore it right off one of them...pretty cool huh?" Yang says proudly.

Ruby asks to see her music player. It has a playlist containing 261 tracks titled "I Burn". Ruby finds it odd that someone would have that many tracks of the same song, but now is not the time to critique her sister's musical tastes.

Ruby then asks if Yang has seen Weiss or anyone else, as well as how her health is.

Yang shrugs and holds an arm, she has a sad look on her face.

"I haven't seen her. Lots of people I haven't seen. Even all the teachers are gone. Weird isn't it? I'm ok though." She says and gives a reassuring smile.

* * *

**A/N: Iiiiiiit's Yang! Whoot! Another friend joins the group. Ruby need to get her priorities straight, suddenly wanting to smooch Weiss XD. Calm down gurl. Anyways I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to check out the original comic on tumblr.**


	7. The Infirmary

**A/N: The team has found Yang in the Main Avenue, though she seems a lil odd. With more allies let's see how the group fares.**

* * *

**Where's Ren? Did he run off somewhere?**

The last thought leaves Ruby startled as she scans the group. She notices Ren is not standing with the others. Panic starts to set in as she calls out for him, but she is relieved when she hears him answer immediately.

"I'm here. Don't worry." He's standing a little ways off from the group, on the other side of the fire where Ruby couldn't see him.

**Find the person at the main avenue.**

Ruby is starting to get annoyed at these voices she's been hearing. She already knows who the person is; it's Yang.

**Ask Pyrrha what's going on with her mouth.**

Ruby looks over to her and sees an abnormally large fang growing out at the bottom left side of her mouth. Now that's a big tooth. Ruby asks her how she's feeling.

"It really hurts."

They need to make their way to the infirmary soon.

**Ask Yang if she got injured by whatever she got the horn from.**

Yang spreads out her arms and gives her a cheerful smile. "Not a scratch! Or any kind of injury."

**Clean the blood off Ruby's knife.**

**Use King's rag.**

**DO NOT TOUCH THE BLOOD.**

**Do the same with Yang's horn.**

Ruby decides that the blood from these creatures could affect them like it seems to be doing to Pyrrha. Ruby asks King for his rag, he complies.

"Ｂｅ ｃａｒｅｆｕｌ."

"Thanks."

Ruby applies some of the crown polish to the cloth and cleans the blood off the knife blade. It sizzles and hisses, the green substance evaporating into the air. Ta-dah! The blood comes off cleanly, so Ruby cleans off the horn as well. All better!

**Ask Pyrrha if there's anything else wrong with her.**

"Well I lost an arm, I may be bleeding out, and my hand is kind of...crusty, but no I'm all good."

**Pyrrha's really not having a good time.**

**Got to take her to the hospital wing.**

**Maybe give her the crown to make her feel better?**

Ruby decides to let Pyrrha wear King's crown for now. She hopes it cheers up the pained girl even in the slightest way. After all, when Ruby wore the crown she was feeling pretty good.

Ruby suggests going to the hospital wing.

"I would like that a lot." Pyrrha says with a small smile. Seems the crown is working its magic.

"Ｉｔ ｍｉｇｈｔ ｂｅ ｓａｆｅｒ ｔｈｅｒｅ."

The group make their way to the hospital wing without encountering any new enemies. As they approach the doors a faint light can be seen glowing through the small windows on them. Ruby carefully opens one of the doors and peers in cautiously. The resting room is before her, it is empty aside from some beds.

We're here and it's lit. Nice.

**Ask King to see his journal.**

"So, uh, can I read your journal?"

"ＹＯＵ ＡＢＳＯＬＵＴＥＬＹ ＣＡＮＮＯＴ!" King screeches at her.

The area where his eye used to be transforms into a large mouth. He's snarling and snapping his large fangs at her. Ruby covers her mouth in shock.

**ROLL CHARISMA!**

**Use persuasive words to convince him.**

**Use your feminine wiles.**

Ruby twiddles her fore fingers, pushing them together in nervousness, and tries to give her best puppy dog pout.

"Hey King...won't you show me?"

_Look at how cute I am! He's got to cave in, right?_

King gives her a blank stare, at least that's what she would think it is since his mouth is still present on his face.

"...Ｕｈ. ＮＯ." He says as he sticks out his tongue.

**Well that didn't work.**

**How about reading the History of Beacon textbook?**

Why would Ruby want to waste her time on reading the History of Beacon textbook? It's just a regular boring textbook. It's literally drier than one of Weiss' jokes.

**Search the Hospital Wing for other survivors.**

**Look for anything that might help us treat Pyrrha.**

**Keep an eye out for potential weapons.**

Thing's like supplies and tools would be further in since this is just the resting area. Ruby decides to proceed further into the hospital. She brings Pyrrha along. The others follow, but a nit warily. Ruby decides to check out the supplies room first. It's more likely to have something helpful to Pyrrha.

It's a good thing there aren't any of those strange creatures here- Oh.

Well. That's not a good sign.

* * *

**A/N: Sheesh King, she asked nicely. Don't need to get so riled up. Oh snap! What is it that Ruby sees in the infirmary. Find out in the next chapter or go read the comic on tumblr. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Reassurance

**A/N: Rubble what do your eyes spy? Hahah. Guess it's time to find out.**

* * *

There's a body lying in the open doorway to the supply room. There's blood all over it and the small area it occupies. There are spikes covered in blood on the back of whoever this person is, maybe that's how they died.

**Examine the dead body.**

Ruby decides to examine the body, find out who it is, and maybe what happened to them.

Ruby gingerly walks over to it and grabs a leg not covered in blood. She drags the body out of the way. This guy seems familiar. Ruby turns the body. Ruby knows this guy. It's Professor Oobleck.

Oobleck looks terrible. He has a few small spikes protruding from his forehead and on both sides of his jawline. His fingertips are torn and bloodied with overgrown nails, which almost look like claws. The one feature that captures her attention most is the long fangs jutting out from his lower lip.

Pyrrha looks at the body and her own starts to shake. Pyrrha suddenly breaks down in tears. Ruby looks at her nervously.

"I'm going to die...! Look. Look at him! I'm going to die. Just like him. I'm going to die, and soon." Pyrrha opened her eyes, and her voice shuddered as she took a deep breath. "I always accepted death. I know death is natural. But now that it's happening to me..." Pyrrha sniffled loudly and looked to Ruby.

"Ruby, I don't want to die."

Ruby tries to comfort Pyrrha. Nothing is working. They all saw Oobleck. He and Pyrrha are the same. She's going to die, in the same way he did.

**Loot Oobleck's body.**

**Maybe there's a cure or clues or something.**

Ruby manages to look through his inventory. He doesn't have much, but it looks like he has more pieces of the letter scraps, like Pyrrha had.

Ruby takes all the scraps and puts them together the best she can. The note is still mostly illegible, but there are two words that stand out to her now. Glynda as the receiver of the letter and Ozpin as the sender.

**Step around Oobleck.**

**Salvage what you can from the supply room.**

Ruby steps around Oobleck and takes a look at what the supply room holds. There's shelves of stuff! The mother lode basically. There are bandages, Band-Aids, eye dressing, painkillers, cleansing wipes, disposable gloves, disinfectant, a couple of first aid kits, rash cream, insect bite/sting reliever, and dark chocolate. Ruby's adventurer instincts are just BEGGING her to pick this stuff up!

**Check the first aid kit.**

**Pretty much everything on the shelf would be in it.**

Ruby picks up the first-aid kit and decides to check out what's inside, first and foremost. The others gather around to peer inside the kit with Ruby. Awesome! The kit contains everything that's on the shelves and more, but in smaller amounts. One of these would last a really long time! And if anything runs out, they could always come back and pick up more stuff. Ruby feels excited. Now they can tend to Pyrrha's wounds properly and have all this stuff for later use. Ruby stashes the kit.

**We must save our friend!**

**Give Pyrrha some painkillers.**

**Make sure you don't touch the blood.**

**Put on some gloves.**

**She could probably use that chocolate.**

**Everyone could use that chocolate.**

Ruby thinks it's time they tend to Pyrrha. She tells Pyrrha to sit down on one of the beds, and goes to grab what she needs. Ruby takes fresh bandages, painkillers, disinfectant, some chocolate, and, as an afterthought, gloves for everyone. She brings these items back to the others and dumps them on the bed. Ruby then walks over to Ren and inquires about his medical knowledge.

"I have some knowledge, but no more than anyone else on the team. I'll take care of Pyrrha, if that's what you're asking." He says.

Ruby gives him a thumbs up and lets him take charge right now. Before he does anything, Ruby advises him to put on gloves just in case, and he does.

Ren does his best to be quick and gentle at the same time while he's tending to Pyrrha's wounds. He disinfects her arm wound. It seems to hurt. Pyrrha clenches her eyes shut and looks away while he works, only a few involuntary whimpers and pained gasps leaving her mouth. Ren apologizes a lot, but he doesn't stop until the wound seems relatively clean and good to go. He bandages her arm with clean bandages.

"Why are you wasting your supplies on me? I'm going to die anyway." She says solemnly.

Ren takes her hand in his. "You're my teammate, right? Teammates look out for each other." He smiles reassuringly at her. "You're going to be okay. I'll make sure of that."

Ruby brings out the chocolate for everyone and they eat it while pondering what to do next.

* * *

**A/N: The salt is strong in this one. If you really want to see the progress on the scrap pieces go check out the comic. There's more to see there. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the taste of salt.**


	9. Infected

**A/N: Time to do some thinkin in that noggin of yers Rubes.**

* * *

**Test the crown polish on Oobleck's blood.**

**Test it on pure human blood.**

**Observe effects.**

Ruby has an idea. She asks everyone if they remember what the polish did to Tick-Tock, and what it did to the blood on the knife and horn. Varying degrees of nodding and mumbled acknowledgements float through the group.

"Maybe it reacts to the monster blood. Maybe it's an infection. Oobleck seems infected. We should test the polish on his blood."

"We'll need an uninfected sample to compare results with. I'll do it." Ren says. "Ruby, lend me the knife."

**Give knife to Ren.**

**Tell him not to cut his hand.**

**Test Oobleck's blood first.**

Ruby decides to test the polish on Oobleck's blood first.

"Ｉｔ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｓａｆｅ ｔｏ ｕｓｅ ｔｈｅ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ ｏｎ ｃｌｅａｎ ｈａｎｄｓ, ｓｉｎｃｅ Ｉ'ｖｅ ｕｓｅｄ ｉｔ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ ｒａｇ ｔｏ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ ｔｈｅ ｃｒｏｗｎ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ." King tells her.

Ruby puts some polish on the rag and touches it to Oobleck's blood. It sizzles and gives off a lot of green smoke.

"As I expected. It does seem to respond to infected blood. What is even in this stuff?" She looks over at King.

King shrugs. He is just as puzzled as her. "Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈａｔ'ｓ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ. Ｉ ｊｕｓｔ ｆｏｕｎｄ ｉｔ. Ｉｔ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｈａｖｅ ａ ｐｒｏｐｅｒ ｌａｂｅｌ, ａｎｄ ｉｓ ｐｒｏｂａｂｌｙ ｈｏｍｅｍａｄｅ."

It is a mystery.

Ruby gives the knife to Ren and tells him to cut his arm or something, not his palm. He agrees. He cuts his arm rather deeply.

The blood drips onto the polish-filled rag.

It sizzles and smokes.

**Tend to Ren's arm, just to be safe.**

Ruby bandages Ren's arm. He didn't have to cut it that deep. Just a prick of a finger would have been okay. Ruby doesn't understand what is going through Ren's mind.

**Test it against Ruby's blood.**

**We know we're safe and will have reliable results.**

**It could just be reacting to, well, blood.**

Ruby cuts her finger with the knife after cleaning it off, just enough to draw a few drops of blood. As the drops land on the green substance of the polish it sizzles and smokes.

**Test everyone's blood.**

The knife is passed around ro everyone. Everyone drips their blood onto the polish rag. Every time, it smokes and sizzles.

Either the polish reacts to all blood, or everyone is infected.

**Remind Pyrrha to be strong, for Jaune.**

"Be strong for Jaune? FOR JAUNE? Jaune is probably already dead. I couldn't save him, and I couldn't save myself. Maybe dying isn't so bad...if it means ending this. If it means everything will be okay."

Pyrrha holds the stump of her missing left arm, looking down at the floor in a daze.

"…For some reason, my mind is wandering..."

Then she looks up and turns her head toward Ruby.

"Ruby...did you know?"

She turns her whole body toward Ruby, her only arm raised halfway; it's almost entirely covered in grey smoke. There's a strange look in her eyes.

"Clay is white."

**Sanity check.**

**Get a brief word on what everyone thinks of the current situation.**

**See if they have any suggestions on what to do next.**

"This place seems safe for now, but we shouldn't stay here longer than we need to. I think the first aid kits will be enough, and we can come back to pick up more stuff if we run out of something." Ruby says.

"I think Ruby is right, it's pretty safe here. Maybe we should move that body somewhere though." Yang says.

"I don't like this place. Also, I'm worried about Weiss, and would like to see her soon." Blake says.

"I want to go to the cafeteria. Someone might be there. And we'll need food soon. Chocolate just isn't going to cut it." Ren says.

"Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｗｅ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｐｒｉｏｒｉｔｉｚｅ ｆｉｎｄｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ ｗｈａｔ ｈａｐｐｅｎｅｄ ｈｅｒｅ." King says. "Ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｔｒｙ ｔｏ ｈｅａｄ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ｏｆｆｉｃｅｓ; ｉｆ ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｃｌｕｅｓ ａｎｙｗｈｅｒｅ, ｉｔ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｔｈｅｒｅ." King says.

"RUBY." Pyrrha manages to say as she coughs and begins to choke out a strange substance.

**What's going on with Pyrrha?!**

**Help her! At least try to.**

Pyrrha holds her hand under her mouth, trying to catch the glowing orange substance. She looks to Ruby with pained, tearful eyes.

"R u by - - it bu el p m e."

The gunk coming out of Pyrrha's mouth is thick and warm. It radiates heat. Almost like it's liquid fire.

Pyrrha's eyes start leaking.

"Help me."

The bandages that had just been changed rip and fall to the ground as Pyrrha's limb seems to regrow. It doesn't look like how a regular arm should.

"...I'm afraid."

And it consumes her.

* * *

**A/N: And there she goes. You prolly weren't expecting that, huh? Unless you've read the comic already. Tell me, how salty are you XD. Thanks for reading~**


	10. Black Sword Queen

**A/N: So, Pyrrha's not doing so well XD. Being consumed by lava isn't the best way to go.**

* * *

**Run away! **

**Get the fuck out of there!**

**Run you fools!**

**It's too late, the Pyrrha we know is gone.**

**Panic.**

**IT'S TOO LATE.**

Ruby and the others watch in horror as Pyrrha's mortal form burns away in the lava and grows. She becomes so large that her shadow looms over them all.

**TRY NOT TO PANIC TOO MUCH.**

**Have everyone back towards the door.**

**Call out Pyrrha's name.**

**See if she reacts to a familiar voice.**

Ruby pushes aside her growing panic. King scribbles furiously in his journal. Ren steps forward.

"Pyrrha? It's me. Pyrrha, it's Ren! Please come back." He says earnestly. Pyrrha studies him, tilting her head to one side. "Pyrrha, stop it. Pyrrha-"

"ＹＯＵ ＷＩＬＬ ＢＵＲＮ" She growls out loudly.

**"Oh sweet dust bunnies. RUN NOW!"**

**EVASIVE MANEUVERS!**

**Leave that room, RIGHT NOW!**

**Don't get separated.**

**Grab Ren so he's not left behind in shock.**

As the group scampers their way to an exit, Ruby notices Ren standing frozen on the spot. Luckily King is near him. He picks up Ren and carries the boy over his shoulder as they quickly follow the rest of the group.

"Ｒｕｂｙ."

Her name rumbles low in Pyrrha's throat.

"Ｒｕｂｙ."

Pyrrha starts to slowly trail behind them. Her footsteps causing the ground to shake.

"Ｒｕｂｙ."

Pyrrha growls as they turn a corner down a long hallway. Ruby can see a door up ahead.

"ＲＵＢＹ."

Pyrrha pratically roars as her head peeks around the corner. Her large claws latch onto the corner of the wall, causing it to splinter and crack.

They reach the doors and Blake tries to open them, rattling the doorknobs in a panic. "I-It's locked Ruby." She says while pointing at the doors.

Yang is next to her, mimicking her motions. "Duuude." She says with a crooked grin.

The heavy thudding of footsteps approach as claws click against the tiled floor. Ruby turns around and slowly backs up until she is against the wall. She looks at the others to find them doing the same. Pyrrha crouches low in front of them while smoke billows from her nostrils and mouth.

"ＹＯＵ ＤＩＤ ＴＨＩＳ ＲＵＢＹ."

**Ruby use the knife with Semblance on Pyrrha's head.**

**STAB PYRRHA.**

Ruby doesn't consider the consequences and just acts. Ruby leaps up and attacks. Pyrrha's scales are hard, and the knife bounces right off, but her eyes are soft.

"ＧＲＲＲＡＡＡＡＡＲＲＲＲ!"

The knife pierces Pyrrha's eye and blood spurts out of it as she is flailing her head about.

Ruby didn't mean to do that.

**Run to the armory!**

Ruby retreats back to the doors. She wishes that she had Crescent Rose. Unfortunately, the only way to the armory at the moment is through those locked doors.

**Try to distract Pyrrha.**

**Maybe see if she's willing to talk?**

**Have the others try to break down the door.**

**Apologize to the Pyrrha-dragon.**

Ruby asks Blake and Yang to figure out the door while she tries a different tatic.

Blake looks at the door, trying to figure out how to open it, while Yang stands nearby.

"Dude, we're busting it open." Yang says with an odd grin still on her face.

"Yang, don't be weird." Blake replies.

Ruby gulps and raises a hand signaling a truce, hoping the gesture pacifies the dragon.

"H-hey, Pyrrha. S-sorry about your eye. I didn't mean for that to happen." Ruby sputters out nervously.

Pyrrha's thrashing has stopped, and she angles her good eye at Ruby.

Pyrrha doesn't move, she just simply stares at her for a moment. Then suddenly Pyrrha moves swiftly. Ruby flinches back, ready for an incoming strike. However instead she hears a loud crash.

Pyrrha breaks through the wall.

Ruby runs over to the gaping hole and sees Pyrrha unfurl her wings and take flight. She soars high above before circling around and disappearing out of sight, somewhere over Beacon.

* * *

**A/N: Looks like Ruby got through to her, maybe. They're lucky Pyrrha didn't just roast 'em on the spot of something. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Brief Reprieve

**A/N: Well, now that Pyrrha's gone they just have to worry about getting through those doors.**

* * *

Ruby turns to her friends, everyone looks just as bewildered and relieved as her.

Blake can't get the door open, even with the pipe. Ruby tells Yang to give it a shot. Yang still smiles lopsidedly, the red glow in her eyes seem to brighten a bit more, as she moves in front of one of the doors.

"Dude, no stupid door is gonna stand in my way." Yang punches through the glass with ease.

Yang turns to the group, that strange smile still present.

"ＴＨＥ ＤＯＯＲ ＨＡＳ ＯＰＥＮＥＤ."

**Did Yang's arm just change into a CLAW THING?**

**Ask Yang if she's feeling ok.**

"...Yang, are you sure there isn't something we need to talk about? Like, right now?"

Yang gazes at Ruby with that disturbing smile.

"What are you talking about?" Yang says while looking down at both of her hands. "I feel FANTASTIC. How do you feel? Haha haha."

**Ask Yang if she is injured.**

"I told you earlier dude! Not a scratch!" She says, presenting her arms out toward Ruby.

Satisfied, Ruby nods and turns to the rest of the group. If she had chosen to pay attention to Yang a moment longer she would have seen the blood that dripped from her mouth.

Yang wiped it away with the back of her hand. "What." However, she didn't bring the matter up.

**Reach through the hole and ulock the door.**

The hallway doors have electronic locks, controlled from the office. They're usually not locked, but the doors can be locked independent of each other to block off certain section of the school in case of an emergency. Guess that explains why the infirmary was relatively safe.

**Inventory check.**

Everyone still has their items. Ruby sees that she still has spare batteries, but unfortunatly Pyrrha had the flashlight ahd her transformation ended up accounting for its loss. Hopefully they won't be needing it anytime soon.

King finally sets Ren down, now that all the commotion has settled. Ruby and the gang proceed to climb through the busted half of the door and make their way to the armory. It doesn't take long for them to see the door.

There it is. Finally.

**:y**

"Dude." Yang says, causing Ruby to turn around and look at her. She has a crazed look in her glowing red eyes that frightens Ruby a little.

**BUST DOWN THAT DOOR!**

"Dude, we're busting it open." Yang says rather dramatically.

Everyone nearly face palms as Yang begins to approach the door.

"You wanna go, you piece of shit door?" She says while flipping the bird with both her hands.

Ruby waves her arms about frantically while standing between Yang and the door. "Yang, please don't fight the door!"

"Yang, no." Blake says from behind the blonde brawler.

King shakes his head before holding a hand against it, some spikes protrude from his arm in frustration.

"Ｇｕｙｓ, ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｎｏ ｎｅｅｄ. Ｔｈｅ ｄｏｏｒ ｉｓ ｏｐｅｎ." He says as he pulls on the knob, swinging it open.

"Welp." Yang says while scratching her chin with one finger.

"I _told_ you." Ruby says exasperatedly, raising both of her arms in the air.

**Quickly collect your weapons and regroup.**

Everyone enters the armory and goes to find their respective lockers.

**Retrieve Crescent Rose.**

**Smooch Crescent Rose.**

Ruby rushes over to hers in a flash, quickly entering her access code. It beeps an affirmative and unlocks. Ruby looks inside to see Crescent Rose in its compact form. Reaching in and pulling it out she gives her "sweet heart" a smooch. She really missed her weapon, she felt utterly vulnerable without it.

Weapons get. King looks at the kids and their various weapons with a slight anxiousness.

After everyone retrieves their weapons the regroup in the center of the room. Ruby had released Crescent Rose into its scythe mode to ensure it was in working order, while the others did similar things with their weapons. Ruby noticed how King looked nervously at them and all of their dangerous weapons.

**Check the other lockers.**

**Get Pyrrha's weapon and give it to King.**

**Retrieve Weiss' weapon as well.**

**Maybe someone is hiding in one!**

Ruby actually considers these thoughts and starts to head to Weiss' locker. Then she remembers an important detail about the lockers. She slaps both hands to her head as the realization struck. "I am a moron."

The lockers are locked with combination codes. They cannot be opened by any other means. No one in the party can pry or otherwise force the lockers open. Besides, a weapon can't be used by anyone else than its owner anyway.

**Head to the cafeteria.**

**Hopefully there's something edible.**

**Maybe find someone else that can help us.**

Ruby feels her stomach rumble, reminding her that they haven't eaten in a while. Well, except for the chocolate. Everyone stows away their weapons and looks to Ruby, ready to head out. Giving them a nod Ruby turns toward the exit and heads out into the hall.

"Cafeteria trip!"

There's another hallway door along the way. This one is unlocked.

It's dark in there.

"Ren?" A familiar voice calls out from the other side of the doors.

Ren breaks out of the daze he was in ever since the incident with Pyrrha. He stumbles toward the doors, frantic and tears forming in his eyes.

"Nora!"

* * *

**A/N: Oh snap! Nora's alive?! How will Ren fare in this new situation? Find out in the next chapter or read the comic. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Boop, Bang

**A/N: Too much salt for anyone to handle. That is all.**

* * *

**Have King and Blake hold Ren back.**

**Call for Nora to come out.**

**This could be a trap.**

Ren tries to rush forward, but King and Blake hold him back.

"Let go of me! Nora!" Ren struggles against their hold, but he's too exhausted to really do much. Tears stream down his face as he continues to try anyway.

Ruby sympathizes with him; having just lost Pyrrha, and now suddenly finding Nora. Ruby was worried though, for all they know it might be an entity pretending to be Nora. Ruby stays well away from the door and raises a cupped hand near her mouth as she calls out.

"Nora? Can you come out here?"

There's a slight pause before she answers.

"I can't."

**Take a look inside with the flashlight before you do anything.**

**Open the door carefully.**

Ruby nears the door. She doesn't have the flashlight since it was with Pyrrha before she changed.

Ruby opens the door slowly. The light from the lit hallway floods into the dark one.

Nora is here.

She is sitting on the ground, leaning against a wall. Most of Nora's left leg is missing. She also has small scratches on her face that are bleeding a bit, but not as much as her leg. It looks as if it was torn off at the knee. The bone can be seen protruding out of the stump. She looks absolutely exhausted.

**Let Ren go to Nora.**

**Tend to her wounds.**

Ruby motions her hand toward the others in a signal to let Ren go. King hesitates at first but complies. Ren takes a few tentative steps forward. Everyone else either stands outside the doorway peeking in, or trails cautiously behind Ren.

As Ren approaches her, a small, tired smile shows on Nora's face. Upon reaching her he kneels down next to her.

"Nora...?"

Nora continues to smile at him as she slowly raises the hand up. She gradually reaches over to him and gently touches his nose with her forefinger.

"Boop..."

Her hand trembles a lot as she does this action, and soon it slips away from his face. There was blood on her fingertip, so when she touched his nose it left some blood on it.

Ren begins to tear up, but the tears don't fall just yet. He lets out a halfhearted laugh before taking Nora's face in his hands, gently kisses her.

He turns his head to look back at the group. "Ruby, I'll take care of it. Will you lend me the first aid kit?" He says.

**Give Ren the first aid kit.**

**Help him if he needs it.**

Ruby pulls the kit out and hands it to Ren before stepping away again. He thanks her and turns his attention on Nora.

"I'm gonna patch you up, don't worry."

He cleans the stump of her leg as best as he can before wrapping it in clean bandages. He puts band-aids on her face as well. Nora smiles at him and gives him a thumbs up.

"You're a good guy, Ren."

**Ask Nora what happened.**

"I, I, I...Why don't I remember?" Nora's body begins to shake uncontrollably as she says this. Her pupils turn red, and fangs begin to poke out from her upper lip.

"Ｒｅｎ! Ｇｅｔ ａｗａｙ ｆｒｏｍ ｈｅｒ! Ｓｈｅ'ｓ ｃｈａｎｇｉｎｇ!" King shouts.

Ren quickly turns to look at the others, an angry expression on his face. The blood on his nose begins to emit smoke.

"NO! She's fine." While he does this Nora grabs at her throat and coughs violently, choking on the smoke coming from her mouth. It seeps from her eyes as well, despite how she has them shut tight.

He turns back to Nora and holds her close. She grabs onto his arm, and now they're both trembling, if not for different reasons.

"It's going to be okay. I promise." Tears are pouring down his face.

Nora's transformation is happening quickly. Her entire mouth is filled with razor sharp fangs that wear away her lips, making it bleed a lot, as smoke continues billowing out of it. Her ears grow long and pointy, and horns emerge from out of her skull, blood flowing at their base. Her eyes seem to no longer exist, and all of her hair falls away to the floor.

All that is left is a monster.

One of Ren's guns pops out of his sleeve and he holds it under Nora's chin. He clenches his eyes shut, thought the tears still flow, and grits his teeth.

"It's going to be okay." He says with a sob. "You were a good teammate."

"I love you."

The gunshot reverberates throughout the hallways. The sounds seem deafening to Ruby.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah. So that happened. Need some fries with your salt? Thanks for reading btw!**


	13. Move Along

**A/N: Ren had to kill his teammate and best friend, that must've been tough. Do you think you could handle doing that, if you were placed in that kind of situation?**

* * *

**Sooo King lost his crown a while back.**

**Is he mad at Ruby?**

**He did ask for it to be returned.**

"Ｉ'ｍ ｎｏｔ ａｎｇｒｙ Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｉ'ｍ ａｎｇｒｙ ａｔ ｍｙｓｅｌｆ ｆｏｒ ｇｉｖｉｎｇ ｉｔ ｔｏ ｙｏｕ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｆｉｒｓｔ ｐｌａｃｅ."

**Wipe the blood off of Ren.**

**Comfort the poor boy.**

Ruby cleans the blood off with a wipe from the kit. Ren looks like he's going to throw up. Ruby can't blame him. After all, he had to kill his best friend.

**Sob a bit, because Nora was pretty rad.**

She really was. Always eager and easily excited by the strangest things. Her outrageous stories were always fun to listen to every lunch hour. Now, Ruby won't get to see or hear that boisterous girl ever again. Ruby takes a moment to mourn the loss of a friend.

**Check Nora's inventory.**

**Make sure it's alright with Ren first.**

After wiping away her tears and calming down a bit Ruby asks Ren if he wouldn't mind taking a look at Nora's inventory.

"Sure. That's fine."

He checks her inventory to find only a single note.

It's addressed to Ren.

**Tell Ren to get the note.**

Since it's for Ren Ruby says he can look at it first.

"Thanks." He says stoically.

Ren opens up the note and his eyes rove over its contents. Ren then releases his grip on it and the note flutters to the ground. He starts to cry again.

Slowly, he brings his gun up to his head. Realizing what he was going to do everyone runs towards him. Right as the gunshot fires to end his life, King grabs a hold of him while Blake grabs his arm and pulls the gun away from his face. The bullet meant for him instead embeds itself into a wall.

Ren wails miserably and holds onto King for support. Everyone gathers around him in a loosely made group hug. Once Ren calms down a bit more Ruby goes to retrieve the letter from off the floor and reads its content.

_Ren-_

_There is really no _

_easy way to _

_say this. I think _

_it's over for me_

_Keep your head up._

_It will be OKAY. I know _

_you'll love me whatever _

_happens to me, even if_

_I believe in LOVE you._

**Say a few encouraging words.**

**We need to hang in there and keep going.**

Ruby rubs the tears from her eyes. Reading the letter has given her a strong resolve to make Ren realize the value of his life.

"Ren! Don't give up just yet! You need to avenge Nora!" Ren looks up to her, a bit surprised at her sudden outburst. "Think of what she would want for you! She wouldn't want you dead!"

Ren raises a hand to his head and his expression changes, as if he has made a realization. Meanwhile Blake has confiscated his guns, just in case.

"Yeah...you're right."

King places a hand on his shoulder in reassurance as Ren comes to terms with himself.

**Commence group hug.**

Ruby smiles and rushes over to give him a hug. The others join in, making it into a closely knit group hug. King's arms reach around everyone's shoulders, holding them all together.

Everyone's spirits seem to be lifted now.

After breaking from the group hug, Ruby's stomach growls loudly. She blushes in embarrassment as everyone looks at her. They all break into smiles and decide that it's time to head to the cafeteria at last.

As they proceed out the door Ruby sees Ren walk over to Nora's corpse.

"We're going now. Bye."

He gives a final wave to her before joining the rest of the group.

* * *

**A/N: Finally going to the cafeteria, about dang time! XD Gotta fill those bellies, they just have to hope they don't encounter anything along the way.**


	14. Don't Change Me

**A/N: Tooooooooooooo the cafeteria! Hahah.**

* * *

**Ask King if all entities are former students/staff.**

"Ｔｈａｔ ｓｅｅｍｓ ｌｉｋｅｌｙ! Ｗｉｔｈ ｗｈａｔ ｗｅ'ｖｅ ｓｅｅｎ, Ｉ ｂｅｌｉｅｖｅ ｗｅ ｈａｖｅ ｄｉｓｃｏｖｅｒｅｄ ｔｈｅｉｒ ｏｒｉｇｉｎｓ!"

**Off to the cafeteria!**

**Let's hope there's still some nice food there.**

They arrive at the cafeteria doors, when they turn the knobs they find the doors are unlocked. Upon entering they find the place relatively empty. As everyone is filing in, Yang goes to one of the tables and stands atop it. Always having that weird smile, and her eyes still glowing red. Blake goes over and chides at her to come down.

Oh? It seems that someone else is here.

Ruby was a little surprised she didn't notice earlier, probably too exhausted and hungry to remain very alert.

"Hello!" The person says.

It's Velvet! The rabbit Faunus girl waves to Ruby and the gang, smiling at them in relief.

**HUG VELVET.**

**HUG THE BUNBUN.**

**JUST DO IT.**

Elated at finding another friend who is actually alive and well, Ruby rushes over to her. "Velvet!" She takes the girl in an embrace over the table she's seated at.

Velvet stands up and hugs back with one arm as Ruby starts squishing their faces together affectionately. "Hello Ruby."

**Ask her if the area is safe of if others are here.**

"There hasn't been anyone or anything through here for hours! It's safe, I think. No one else is here. I haven't seen anyone."

As they start catching up, the others come over to join in. Velvet gasps when she sees King, but Ruby quickly tells the girl that he is an ally. Velvet looks between King and Ruby before nodding her head, satisfied and willing to trust in Ruby. King sighs in relief.

While the others talk with Velvet, Ruby decides to go back to the discussion she had with King from earlier. She catches his attention and they continue where they left off.

"Then what about you King? Did you originate from one of the staff or students?"

King puts a hand on his block face, the other arm crossed over his body and resting over the elbow. His single large eye furrows in thought as he considers Ruby's question.

"Ｔｈａｔ...Ｉｓ ｖｅｒｙ ｌｉｋｅｌｙ...ｂｕｔ...ｗｈｏ?" King looks like he doesn't enjoy this line of thinking.

**Ask King if the name Ozpin means anything to him.**

**Apologize again for the crown.**

"Ｏｚｐｉｎ ｉｓ ｔｈｅ ｍｉｓｓｉｎｇ ｈｅａｄｍａｓｔｅｒ ｏｆ Ｂｅａｃｏｎ..." He takes a seat at one of the many tables. Hunched over, he props his head in his hands, his elbows resting on the table. "Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ...ａｌｌ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ." His eye is now a mouth and he sticks out his tongue in frustration.

Ruby rubs a hand on the back of her head and goes for the apology.

"Hey, uh, about the crown-"

"Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｃａｒｅ ａｎｙｍｏｒｅ." He interrupts.

King lets his face slam onto the table, leaving his hands still up in the air.

**Inventory check for Velvet.**

The others soon come over to join them, settling around the table King's seated at. Trying to break the awkward feeling she was having, Ruby looks to Velvet and inquires her about her inventory. Velvet only has one item: a huge knife.

**Ask King why he's not berserk like the others.**

"Ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｈａｖｅ ａ ｓｅｔ ｏｆ ｒａｎｄｏｍ ｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｉｓｔｉｃｓ. Ｔｈｅ ｔｈｒｅｅ ｍａｉｎ ｏｎｅｓ ａｒｅ ａｇｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ, ｒｏａｍｉｎｇ, ａｎｄ ｌｉｇｈｔ ｓｅｎｓｉｔｉｖｉｔｙ."

He raises one hand and points to each one he puts up as he lists the characteristics.

"Ｔｈｅｙ ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｈａｖｅ ｉｄｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｏｒ ｐｅｒｏｎａｌｉｔｉｅｓ, ｏｎｌｙ ｂａｓｉｃ ｉｎｓｔｉｎｃｔｓ. Ｉ'ｍ ｔｈｅ ｏｎｌｙ ｏｎｅ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ. Ｔｈｅ ｏｎｌｙ ｄｉｓｃｏｖｅｒｅｄ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ ｗｉｔｈ ａ ｓｅｎｓｅ ｏｆ ｓｅｌｆ. Ｉ'Ｍ ＭＥ. Ｆｏｒｃｅｄ Ｍｏｖｅ Ｋｉｎｇ ｉｓ ｍｙ ｎａｍｅ. Ｇｒｅｅｎ ｉｓ ｍｙ ｆａｖｏｒｉｔｅ ｃｏｌｏｒ. Ｉ'ｍ ａ ｈｅ ａｎｄ ｌｉｋｅ ｃｈｅｓｓ. Ｍｙ ｂｏｄｙ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｄｅｆｉｎｅ ｍｅ.Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｗｈｏ Ｉ ａｍ. Ｔｈｉｓ ｆｅｅｌｉｎｇ ｉｓ ｗｈａｔ ｓｅｐａｒａｔｅｓ ｍｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅｍ."

**Maybe King was Ozpin.**

"King, you know why I asked you if you recognized the name Ozpin? It's because I thought you looked a lot like him." Ruby says.

After a pause, King raises his head to prop on his hands again. He looks down at the table, his eye solemn.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ...ｃｅｒｔａｉｎｌｙ ｐｏｓｓｉｂｌｅ. Ｉ...Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｅｌｓｅ. Ｐｌｅａｓｅ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔｒｙ ｔｏ ｃｈａｎｇｅ ｍｅ ｉｎｔｏ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｅｌｓｅ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｉｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈａｔ ｗａｙ."

* * *

**A/N: Do you want King to change, or do you think he is his own person now? Thanks for reading, and don't forget to follow the comic if you want to see more recent stuffs.**


	15. Aggression, Roaming, and Light

**A/N: Yay! The BunBun still lives! How many of you were not expecting her to be one of the survivors?**

* * *

**Comfort King a bit.**

**Ask him what food he likes.**

**Maybe we have it here in the cafeteria.**

Ruby walks around the table and approaches him.

"Hey man, you wanna hug?" King turns to face her, a hand still rubbing his face. "Ｙｅａｈ, ａ ｌｉｌ." Ruby smiles at him and moves in for the hug, he hugs her back. King seemed to appreciate that.

"What's your favorite food King?"

"Ｉ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｌｉｋｅｄ ｔｈａｔ ｃｈｏｃｏｌａｔｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ...ａｌｓｏ ｓｔｒａｗｂｅｒｒｉｅｓ."

**Ask King to go into more detail about the instincts.**

**It might help us defeat some of the monsters.**

"Ｏｋ! Ｈｅｒｅ Ｉ ｇｏ!"

"Ｆｉｒｓｔ Ｉ'ｌｌ ｓｔａｒｔ ｗｉｔｈ Ａｇｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ. Ｎｏｎ ａｇｒｅｓｓｉｖｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｗｉｌｌ ｎｏｔ ａｔｔａｃｋ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ. Ｔｈｏｓｅ ｔｈａｔ ａｒｅ ｓｏｍｅｗｈａｔ ａｇｇｒｅｓｓｉｖｅ ｗｉｌｌ ｏｃｃａｓｉｏｎａｌｌｙ ａｔｔａｃｋ, ｂｕｔ ｉｔ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｈａｐｐｅｎ ｔｏｏ ｏｆｔｅｎ. Ａｎｄ ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ ｖｅｒｙ ａｇｇｒｅｓｓｉｖｅ ｏｎｅ'ｓ ｗｉｌｌ ａｔｔａｃｋ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｏｒ ａｎｙｏｎｅ."

"Ｎｅｘｔ ｉｓ Ｒｏａｍｉｎｇ. Ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｓｏｍｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｔｈａｔ ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｍｏｖｅ ｗｈａｔｓｏｅｖｅｒ. Ｔｈｅｙ ａｒｅ ｓｔａｔｉｏｎａｒｙ, ｌｉｋｅ ａ ｓｔａｔｕｅ. Ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｓｏｍｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｔｈａｔ ｈａｖｅ ｒｅｓｔｒｉｃｔｉｏｎｓ ｔｏ ｗｈｅｒｅ ｔｈｅｙ ｍｏｖｅ. Ｔｈｅｙ ｒｅｍａｉｎ ｉｎ ａ ｃｅｒｔａｉｎ ａｒｅａ ａｎｄ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｃｒｏｓｓ ｏｖｅｒ ｔｏ ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ. Ｏｔｈｅｒ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ａｒｅ ａｂｌｅ ｔｏ ｆｒｅｅ ｒｏａｍ ｊｕｓｔ ａｂｏｕｔ ａｎｙｗｈｅｒｅ ｔｈｅｙ ｗａｎｔ."

"Ｆｉｎａｌｌｙ ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ Ｌｉｇｈｔ Ｓｅｎｓｉｔｉｖｉｔｙ. Ｓｏｍｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ａｒｅ ｕｎａｆｆｅｃｔｅｄ ｂｙ ｔｈｅ ｌｉｇｈｔ, ｗｈｉｌｅ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｍａｙ ｂｅ ａｔｔｒａｃｔｅｄ ｔｏ ｉｔ. Ｔｈｅｎ ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｏｎｅｓ ｗｈｏ ｆｌｅｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｉｔ."

"Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｐｒｅｔｔｙ ｍｕｃｈ ｉｔ."

Everyone in the group considers his words until low rumbles are emitted from some of their stomachs.

**FOOD!**

**NEED SUSTENANCE!**

"Everyone, to the kitchen!" Ruby says as she leads the way.

When they enter Ruby sees a large fridge and heads to it first. Opening it wide enough for everyone to be able to see, she peers inside to see what selections are to be had. She notices that there's a little box with strawberries inside. Remembering that King said he liked them, she plucked it out before anyone could touch it and walks towards King.

Ruby gives them to King, who looks extremely happy. A cute and goofy smile on his face. "Ｏｈ ｇｏｓｈ." He says, taking the box.

Before Ruby walks away he grabs her attention.

"Ｕｍ, Ｒｕｂｙ? Ｃａｎ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ａ ｓｅｃｏｎｄ? Ｉ, ｕｈ...ｈａｖｅ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｓａｙ." Ruby smiles and nods her head. "Ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｊｏｕｒｎａｌ. Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏｒｒｙ Ｉ ｇｏｔ ｓｏ ｍａｄ. Ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｕｎｆａｉｒ." He pauses, nervously rubbing the back of his head before continuing. "Ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｓｔｉｌｌ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ, ｙｏｕ ｃａｎ ｒｅａｄ ｉｔ."

Ruby tells him that she would like to read the journal. He nods and pulls it from his inventory, handing it over to her. He sits down at his table and proceeds to eat his strawberries.

The way to a man's heart.

* * *

**A/N: The way to a man's heart is his stomach. Hahah. Now we'll get to see what's in that journal of his. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the actual game/comic on tumblr (therwbyquest) that this is based off on.**


	16. King's Journal

**A/N: Title pretty much explains this chapter.**

* * *

Ruby opens the journal and starts flipping through it. The first pages have been ripped out for some reason.

"Ｔｈｅｙ' ｗｅｒｅ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈａｔ ｗｈｅｎ Ｉ ｆｏｕｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｂｏｏｋ." King says around a mouthful of strawberries.

Ruby returns her attention to the journal. The first legible entry is very short. It's written in green ink, like what's in King's pen nib.

_I've lost so much along the way. There was a time when I thought we had succeeded, and that those sacrifices had been worth something. I was wrong. I was wrong all along._

Ruby isn't sure she wants to keep reading, but King urges her on.

"Ｙｏｕ ｍｉｇｈｔ ｂｅ ａｂｌｅ ｔｏ ｍａｋｅ ｍｏｒｅ ｓｅｎｓｅ ｏｕｔ ｏｆ ｉｔ ｔｈａｎ Ｉ ｃａｎ." He says.

The next entry is just as cryptic.

_I haven't seen G in a few days. I think she is avoiding me._

_I would too._

_I don't want to know how much loss this will cause. B is starting to feel ill. We are at a loss. If only I hadn't been so foolish._

_G came back today. Conditions are severe. There's almost no one left. Everyone had either abandoned Beacon or disappeared._

_I'm afraid this is the end of Beacon._

_G is still here. She has not left. She must be some kind of saint. I know she doesn't like this. She should leave. This is my responsibility._

_The captain goes down with the ship._

_B is showing signs and bleeding. He describes a burning sensation. G sent him to the infirmary. He has not returned._

_It's just me and her now. B isn't coming back. The days pass so slowly here. If it wasn't for the sun, I would not be able to tell one day from the next. We are making due, but it's not looking good. _

_G is having problems. It's hard for her._

_She is hiding it, but I know her._

_It's over. G is showing signs._

_I don't know what to do. We haven't been able to find a cure._

_I can't bring myself to kill her. I can't. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do._

_I wish I could take it all back._

_I wish she had left when she could've. She was so stubborn. She's so stupid! I can't believe her._

_I'm going to miss her so much._

_It should've just been me. I should've been the only one to suffer. Yet I'm still alive and healthy, and everyone else is..._

_G is getting worse by the hour. She is begging for death._

_I am a cowardly man._

_I did what had to be done. I'm sorry, Glynda._

_I couldn't fulfill your wish. It's too late now._

_I feel a burning sensation._

_The burning never stops. I am going to the tower. None of this must ever escape Beacon._

_It will fall, and I fall with it._

_I will seal everything inside the school. To those who are still alive: I'm sorry._

_It has been done. From the tower, I can see every part of the school. I saw a student today. He was looking up at the sky, wondering why it was so dark._

_I'm sorry I couldn't save you._

_I am ready. The burning sensation is in every part of me. My eyes hurt. I know that it's coming._

_I don't want this._

_My only comfort is knowing that this will never escape this place. People will look to Beacon in wonder, asking what happened, and no one will answer. I will die, and the truth will die with me. It's almost like I can hear her voice berating me for what I did._

_She never went against me, not even once._

_I wish she had stopped me from the beginning._

_I miss her._

The rest of the page is blackened and covered in soot. The next page is in a different handwriting.

_Hello. I think my name is Forced Move King._

There's a small doodle of King next to the sentence.

_I think I want to be called King._

_I think I will take this book with me, in case I think of something interesting to write down!_

_Some monster attacked me today! How scary... I think I want to write down what I saw._

_Here's a picture -_

There's a doodle of a figure that looks like it has spikes on its head and large clawed hands. It seems like there is some sort of spikes or something below its torso as well.

_He was really aggressive to me!_

_He even followed me out when I ran away._

_It was really scary._

_I saw another monster. It was far away._

_I'm going to write down all of them, and name them._

_Today I met a monster that already had a name!_

_How strange._

_Just like when I woke up and knew my name was King, I just knew!_

_Here's a picture of it -_

The entity is some sort of large winged creature that seems to walk on all fours, or is just hunched over. It has a massive jaw full of fangs, and also has what might be horns coming out of its head.

Near it is another doodle of King looking astonished with his hands on his face.

_Its name is Sky-High Ursa Knight._

_It's very aggressive!_

_It followed me all the way into the school!_

_It didn't come inside though. I wonder why._

_Could it be the light?_

_I had another dream about her._

_I don't know who she is._

_In my dreams, we are friends. We have meals together, and laugh about things, and sometimes we just sit together quietly and enjoy each other's company._

_I wish I could remember her face, or even just her name..._

_When I wake up and she's not there, it makes me very sad._

_I feel hollow inside._

_:(_

_Tick-Tock Square Escape_

_Aggressive_

_Does not leave gardens_

_Unknown light reaction_

There's a drawing of the hulking beast next to its description. A caption of it growling written over its head. Guess that explains why it didn't chase them outside of the gardens before.

_Stone Square Castling_

_Somewhat aggressive_

_Roams everywhere_

_Seems attracted to light_

Its drawing makes it seem like a tall being with very long and thin legs. It has two massive arms that hang down close to its feet, and large eyes as well. There are lines drawn across its arms and part of its head, it looks like it could be some sort of material for clothing.

_Turn Check Rook_

_Aggressive_

_?_

_Attracted to light_

This entity looks a lot like its name. It is lanky looking with thin arms. Its head is shaped like the top part of a rook chess piece. It looks like something covers its mouth, but it's hard to tell since it is only scribbles. There also seems to be something wrapped around its lower left leg.

_Back Rank Knight_

_Somewhat aggressive_

_Roams dorm hallways (I think?)_

_Repulsed by light_

Ruby remembers this creature just by looking at King's drawing. It's the same one she encountered when trying to save Weiss.

The next entity is one that Ruby is also familiar with.

_Black Queen Sword_

_AGGRESSIVE_

_ROAMING_

_! ! ? ?! ? UNKNOWN_

Next to the text is a picture of Pyrrha, wWell, in her recently attained dragon form.

_Pyrrha Nikos turned into an entity right before my eyes! Is this where we come from?_

_..._

_I wonder...was I someone else before, too?_

_I don't remember anything._

_I keep dreaming about her._

_I just...I think...If I was someone else before..._

An arrow points at the line, with the text "I hope not" at its end.

_I think she was important to me._

_If only I could remember who she is._

_I think I might've loved her._

There's a doodle of an exasperated King. Both of his arms raised in the air, with the following text beside it.

_I don't know anything about myself._

That's the last entry.

* * *

**A/N: We learn things about the entities, and a bit about the origins of this crazy situation. But there's still a shroud of mystery~ Ohohoho! XD Thanks for reading!**


	17. Kingpin Has A Sin

**A/N: Well we've learned a lot from that journal about the entities. Those earlier entries though, the writer seemed awfully familiar don'cha think?.**

* * *

**Ask King what kind of dreams he has.**

"Ｖｅｒｙ ｎｉｃｅ ｏｎｅｓ!" He says, smiling adorably and putting his hands to his cheeks as he blushes. "Ｉ ｆｅｅｌ ｈａｐｐｙ ｗｈｅｎ ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｔｏｇｅｔｈｅｒ. Ｓｈｅ ｍａｋｅｓ ｍｅ ｆｅｅｌ ｗｈｏｌｅ. Ｉ ｗｉｓｈ ｄｒｅａｍｓ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｌａｓｔ ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ."

**Ask King if Glynda Goodwitch rings any bells.**

"Ｈａｎｇ ｏｎ. Ｔｈａｔ ｓｏｕｎｄｓ...ｒｅａｌｌｙ...ｆａｍｉｌｉａｒ." King closes his eye and rubs a hand on his head in thought. "Ｇｌｙｎｄａ. Ｈｏｗ ｄｏ Ｉ...ｋｎｏｗ ｈｅｒ? Ｇｌｙｎｄａ. Ｇｌｙｎｄａ. Ｇｌｙｎｄａ..."

Suddenly his eye snaps open in shock. It seems he remembers something, but it didn't seem happy. Ruby becomes worried as she sees King crying, tears pouring from his eye.

"ＯＨ ＧＯＤ. ＷＨＡＴ ＤＩＤ Ｉ ＤＯ ＴＯ ＹＯＵ? ＧＬＹＮＤＡ, Ｉ, Ｉ, ＯＨ ＧＯＤ Ｉ'Ｍ ＳＯ ＳＯＲＲＹ. Ｉ'Ｍ ＳＯＲＲＹ. Ｉ'Ｍ ＳＯｒｒｙ. Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏｒｒｙ."

King holds his head with both hands, he is panicked and sweating. King seems to remember now, mostly. Everything is broken into pieces he can barely make sense of. He doesn't know anything. However, he is sorry.

Sorry doesn't fix it.

**Tell King it's going to be okay.**

**We'll work through all of this together.**

"King! King, listen! Whoever you were in you past was important for us to have known to solve this. But you're also your own person right now! You're Forced Move King, the guy that's been able to help us get so far safely! You're not the man you were that made the mistake, and we know that! Right now, if there's any way to save the others, we need to do everything we can to fix this! What Ozpin couldn't do...We could do it together! So don't give up! We-We need you...!"

Ruby took in a deep breath after finishing her rant. She hoped she got through to him.

King's eye was replaced with a mouth, and instead of tears there was blood pouring from it. He had one hand against his head, as if he was having a headache.

"Ｉ'ｍ ｎｏｔ ｈｉｍ. Ｏｚｐｉｎ ｉｓ ｎｏｔ ｍｅ. Ｉ ａｍ Ｋｉｎｇ. ＢＵＴ ＴＨＥ ＦＡＵＬＴ ＩＳ ＭＩＮＥ!"

Ruby was going to try and comfort him again, but then Yang stepped forward and spoke.

"Ｋｉｎｇｐｉｎ ｈａｓ ａ ｓｉｎ..."She said eerily.

Her ever present smile and red glow in her eyes made Ruby feel afraid. What was Yang talking about? Yang continued to slowly approach King as she spoke.

"Ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｏｆ ｙｏｕｒ ｓｉｎ, ｐｅｏｐｌｅ ｄｉｅ. Ｄｕｅ ｔｏ ｙｏｕｒ ｓｉｎ, ａ ｇｒｅａｔ ｍａｎｙ ｈｕｍａｎｓ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｓｃｈｏｏｌ ｄｉｅ. Ｎｏ ｏｎｅ ｅｓｃａｐｅｓ. Ａｌｌ ｄｉｅ."

Yang was close enough to him now that she grabbed him by his scarf and loomed over him.

"Ｉｇｎｏｒａｎｃｅ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｃｌｅａｎｓｅ ｙｏｕ ｏｆ ｓｉｎ."

Spikes began to appear out of Yang's arms and spine. Ruby could see razor sharp fangs inside of her mouth. Ruby was scared. She didn't know what to do. Yang would know what to do, but she wasn't exactly herself right now.

"Ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｙｏｕ ｓｉｎ, ｔｈｅｎ ｔｈａｔ ｉｔｓｅｌｆ ｉｓ ｙｏｕｒ ｓｉｎ!"

Before anyone else could react someone shot past Ruby towards Yang. Ruby could hear the sound of a blade slicing into flesh, and shuddered.

There Velvet stood, holding the handle of her huge knife which was now in the side of Yang's abdomen and covered in her blood.

"You're not Yang." She said, her voice slightly quavering and the fear apparent on her face.

**Ask Velvet why the hell she did that.**

**Who is she and where is the real Yang?**

Ruby was in shock.

Velvet just stabbed Yang.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Ruby yelled at the girl frantically.

Velvet looked at Ruby in pity. "This is clearly not Yang." She pointed at said girl. "It's written all over her face. I don't know how you've been able to ignore it!"

Ruby looked at her sister, expecting to see her bowled over in pain. However, Yang seemed unaffected by the attack. She merely let go of her grasp on King and marveled at the knife in the side of her body. "Dude…"

Ruby thinks she knew. She knew ever since she first found Yang that something was off. She just didn't want to admit it to herself or the others. She was just so happy to be able to be with her big sister. To have a sense of security knowing that she always had her back. That she wouldn't leave her like Summer did. But now the illusion was shattered.

This was not Yang.

Blake stepped up beside a distraught Ruby and spoke to her fellow Faunus.

"Hang on...Then who is that? And where is Yang?"

"That, is an entity...obviously. I don't know where Yang is. She could be dead, for all we know."

Meanwhile King was behind them looking confused at something on his head. Ruby couldn't focus on him very well due to the shock of the immediate situation, but it looked like a tiara or something appeared on his head.

Right now that didn't matter to her. All that mattered was Yang.

**Check to see if Velvet's right.**

**Cut off a piece of Yang's hair.**

**Just do it.**

Yang, or whoever it was, looked at them curiously. Her eyes were glowing brighter than ever, and the spikes were still present on her body. The knife was still in her side as well, blood flowing from the wound slowly.

Ruby was dazed, but the thoughts were clear in her mind. She nodded to herself dumbly before walking forward. Stumbling a bit as she neared Yang. She reached a hand out tentatively for her hair.

"I'm doing this because I love you." She told Yang before grabbing a fistful of her hair. Ruby flinched back, waiting for Yang to erupt into flames and tell her she was crazy for doing this. But none of that came. There was only a drawled out, "Duuuude." Ruby took the knife out and cut a large portion of Yang's hair, letting it float to the floor.

Again there was no eruption. She looked at the locks that had fallen on the ground and wanted to cry. A small sob was heard, but it wasn't from her. When she looked up, she was surprised to look into her 'sister's' tear filled red eyes. She was still smiling though, always smiling.

Ruby took a step back when the entity moved to pull the knife out her body, causing more blood to gush out. The tears were streaming nonstop down her face as it moved the knife close to her head. With her other hand, she grabbed the rest of her golden hair and sliced the bloody knife through it, letting it all fall to the ground as well.

**Ask this...thing, why it's been following us around?**

**What did it do with the real Yang?**

"Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｍｅａｎ ｔｏ."

It covers its ears with both hands, closing its eyes in distress.

"Ｉ ｄｉｄ ｉｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ."

* * *

**A/N: So tell me, how many of you were expecting this turn of events? And here is the chapter where the whole Stabbun thing was being referred to in my Prepare For Trouble fic. Stabbun has revealed, or at least made it more obvious, that Yang is not exactly 'Yang' anymore. How will things unfold? Dun dun dun! Thanks for reading!**


	18. Dead Draw Domination

**A/N: The team has discovered that an entity has been impersonating Yang, or something like that. Let's find out how things go with this new revelation.**

* * *

**Ask the entity for its name.**

"Ｍｙ ｎａｍｅ...Ｍｙ ｎａｍｅ ｉｓ Ｄｅａｄ Ｄｒａｗ Ｄｏｍｉｎａｔｉｏｎ." It crossed both arms over its chest, tears still trailing down its face. "Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ 'Ｙａｎｇ'."

"Wait...Where's Yang, then?" Ruby said, her feelings being conflicted between hope and disappointment.

"Ｙａｎｇ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ." It simply said. It had stopped crying now.

"So, Dead Draw Domination, what do you mean Yang doesn't exist? Are you implying that she wasn't real? That is was you the whole time?" Ruby didn't like this one bit.

"Ｃａｌｌ ｍｅ 3Ｄ." It told her nonchalantly. "Ａｎｄ Ｉ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｓａｉｄ Ｙａｎｇ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｒｅａｌ. Ｉ ｓａｉｄ ｓｈｅ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ." It said matter of fact.

**Ask if 3D wants to bandage her wounds.**

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｆｉｎｅ." She removed her hands and revealed the blood flow to have stopped. The cut was gone. "Ｓｅｅ? Ｆｉｉｉｉｉｎｅ."

**Ask 3D if they are dangerous.**

**Do they plan to do any harm?**

3D gave her a wicked grin. "Ｍａｙｂｅ. Ｍａｙｂｅ ｎｏｔ. Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｄｅｃｉｄｅ ｙｅｔ."

Well that's reassuring.

**Your sister is dead.**

**Destroy 3D.**

Ruby readied her Crescent Rose, unfolding it into scythe mode. Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud as well, switching it to its pistol mode and aiming it at 3D. She looked really mad.

3D causally looked at them, swaying both hands out to the sides.

"Ｈｅｙ, ｈｅｙ, ｈｅｙ...Ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｎｏ ｎｅｅｄ ｆｏｒ ｔｈａｔ." She chuckled. "Ｃａｌｍ ｄｏｗｎ. Ｉｔ'ｓ ｇｏｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｆｉｉｉｉｉｎｅ."

**Ask Blake if she's feeling okay.**

**She did kiss an entity after all.**

She whispered to her, asking if she was alright after all that. Now that she thought of it though, it was probably a bad time to bring it up.

Blake spat on the floor in disgust, as if trying to get rid of the taste. "I hope you're happy." She said menacingly to 3D, her glare looked as if it could cut through steel.

3D simply stared at in in amusement. "Ａｌｌ ｔｈｅ ｔｉｍｅ."

Blake gritted her teeth and looked like she was about to pull the trigger.

** "Don't shoot 3D! She might be needed to get Yang back!"**

Ruby placed a hand on top of Blake's weapon, making her lower it a bit.

**Ask 3D if they are Yang's entity.**

Apparently this wasn't the correct way to go about the subject, for 3D glared at her angrily.

"Ｉ ＡＭ ＮＯＴ 'ＹＡＮＧ'Ｓ'. Ｉ ＢＥＬＯＮＧ ＴＯ ＮＯ ＯＮ. Ｉ ＡＭ ＭＹ ＯＷＮ."

3D growled at them, her large upper fangs piercing the skin on the lower lip.

**Ask 3D if Yang is in there at all.**

**Or does she just look like her?**

3D looks at her in amusement. "Ｉｎ ｗｈｅｒｅ?" She points to her head. "Ｙｏｕ ｍｅａｎ ｉｎｓｉｄｅ ｈｅｒｅ?"

Suddenly 3D rushes forward, causing Ruby to stumble backward. She grabs Blake's black neck scarf and pulls the Faunus close to her face.

"ＹＡＮＧ ＮＯ ＬＯＮＧＥＲ ＥＸＩＳＴＳ." A creepy grin is on her face, red eyes boring into Blake's.

To Ruby's surprise, the Faunus girl remains relatively calm. Then she notices Blake's weapon aiming under 3D's chin, making the entity's grin disappear.

"Don't think for a second that I won't do it."

3D doesn't move, nor does she break eye contact with Blake.

"Ｉｔ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｋｉｌｌ ｍｅ." She says placidly.

"But it will hurt."

"Ｇｏ ａｈｅａｄ."

**Ask 3D why they are trying to make you kill them.**

Ruby places herself between the two before anything else could happen. Blake lowers her weapon, still glowering at 3D. While the entity looks at Ruby with a bit of surprise as she asks the question.

"Ｔｒｙｉｎｇ ｔｏ...ｍａｋｅ ｙｏｕ? Ｋｉｌｌ ｍｅ?" 3D says slowly. Then she gets an angry expression. "Ｉ'Ｍ ＮＯＴ ＭＡＫＩＮＧ ＹＯＵ ＤＯ ＡＮＹＴＨＩＮＧ. ＡＬＲＥＡＤＹ ＴＯＬＤ ＹＯＵ, ＩＴ ＷＯＮ'Ｔ ＫＩＬＬ ＭＥ. ＧＯ ＡＨＥＡＤ, ＩＦ ＩＴ ＭＡＫＥＳ ＹＯＵ ＦＥＥＬ ＢＥＴＴＥＲ."

3D calms down suddenly, closing her eyes and remaining neutral. When she speaks again, her voice is much calmer than before.

"Hey...Blake?" The tone sounded exactly like Yang, and not the like entity she had become. "Let's become monsters together, and lay waste to this world. We'll wipe out everything. Don't you think that sounds nice?" Her tone sounded hopeful.

"Never."

Blake pulled the trigger, firing a shot straight into 3D's chest.

3D stumbled back a few inches from the impact. Placing the one arm over the growing stain of blood on her chest, 3D looked down at the wound.

"..."

When 3D raised her head Ruby gasped. Her eyes. It was HER eyes. It was Yang's lilac colored eyes that looked at them.

"I guess not." She said with tears streaming down her face.

"You're not her." Blake said as she began to cry, holding a hand over her mouth to muffle any sobs.

* * *

**A/N: Just so ya know, I was extremely salty when writing this. Got all depressed n everything, walking around my house sighing n whatnot XD. I hope it had a similar effect on you guys. Tho I hope it didn't make you super depressed, don't want to make ya miserable, just having sympathy with the characters. Anyways enjoy drowning in salty waterfall of tears, Imma go cry in a corner now XD. Thanks for reading!**


	19. Because I Love You

**A/N: "Shot through the heart and you're to blame. You give love a bad name." Hahah. There's a tumblr post depicting last chapter's scene with that song, it's so perf.**

* * *

**Ask King can entities be killed.**

"Ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ ｗｅ ｃａｎ ｂｅ ｋｉｌｌｅｄ. Ｗｈａｔ ｋｉｎｄ ｏｆ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ ｉｓ ｔｈａｔ?"

**Why the fuck 3D's eyes turned to lilac?**

"Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈａｔ ｙｏｕ ｍｅａｎ. Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｄｕｍｂ." She said as she stuck out her tongue.

3D was now sitting on the floor gazing at the gunshot wound. When 3D had looked at Ruby she noticed her eyes were no longer the familiar color Ruby knew, but that ever glowing red.

**Ask 3D why she hasn't attacked them.**

**She's now been attacked twice.**

3D grinned widely at them, actually closing her eyes in a squint, and the red glow brighten considerably as it shined through her closed eyes.

"Ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ."

Blake had stopped sobbing moments ago, but angry tears continued to stream down her face. Ruby frowned; wishing it was her sister actually saying those words and not some monster.

"Don't say that." The two girls said unison.

**Check if 3D is okay.**

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｆｉｎｅ ｄｕｄｅ. Ｉｔ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｋｉｌｌ ｍｅ. Ａｓ ｌｏｎｇ ａｓ 3Ｄ ｉｓ ｈｅｒｅ, ｉｔ ｗｉｌｌ ｂｅ ｆｉｎｅ." 3D moved her hand away from her chest briefly when saying this.

She leaned back a bit, and smiled wickedly at Blake. "Ｇｏｏｄ ｊｏｂ ａｌｍｏｓｔ ｍｕｒｄｅｒｉｎｇ Ｙａｎｇ ｔｈｏｕｇｈ. Ｈａ ｈａ ｈａ." Blake glared at her, but didn't move or speak.

"Ｈａｎｇ ｏｎ! Ｔｈａｔ ｇｉｖｅｓ ｍｅ ａｎ ｉｄｅａ. Ｗｈａｔ ｉｆ Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｈｅａｌ? Ｉ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｓｔａｙ ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ." It gripped its chest wound a bit, and grinned cruelly. "Ｉｆ Ｙａｎｇ ｃａｍｅ ｂａｃｋ ｎｏｗ, ｓｈｅ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｃｅｒｔａｉｎｌｙ ｄｉｅ. Ｗｅ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｏｔｈ ｄｉｅ. Ｉｆ Ｙａｎｇ ｄｉｅｓ, ｓｏ ｄｏ Ｉ. Ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ, ｔｈｅ ｏｐｐｏｓｉｔｅ ｉｓ ａｌｓｏ ｔｒｕｅ."

3D watched in amusement as their expressions became horrified.

"Ｓｏ ｗｈａｔ ｗｉｌｌ ｉｔ ｂｅ?"

**Ask 3D how she can threaten us about killing Yang.**

**If Yang doesn't exist, how can killing 3D kill her as well?**

3D stood up, placing a hand against her hip and held the other out in front of her. The lopsided smile had returned.

"Ａｌｒｉｇｈｔ ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｉｍｅ ｔｏ ｇｅｔ ｓｃｈｏｏｌｅｄ. Ｏｎｅ: Ｊｕｓｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ, ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｍｅａｎ ｉｔ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｗｉｌｌ! Ｔｗｏ: Ｊｕｓｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ, ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｍｅａｎ ｉｔ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｒｅａｌ!"

Ruby takes a moment to consider this claim. By all accounts, it doesn't make sense.

"How can something that no longer exists be real?"

3D had both hands against her hips now and looked off into the distance, grinning goofily.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｐｒｅｔｔｙ ｍｙｓｔｅｒｉｏｕｓ. Ｙｏｕ'ｌｌ ｊｕｓｔ ｈａｖｅ ｔｏ put your faith in me."

Somehow 3D's voice sounded just like Yang's at the end of its sentence. Ruby looked at it questioningly.

"Ｗａｉｔ ｗｈａｔ? Ｗｈａｔ ｗａｓ ｔｈａｔ? Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ! Ｈａ ｈａ!" It shrugged its arms.

**Ask 3D why she loves you.**

**This is important.**

3D spread its arms to the side, as if waiting for an embrace.

"Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｌｏｖｅｄ ｙｏｕ. Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｌｏｖｅｄ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｔｈｅ ｗａｙ Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ."3D grinned at her cheerfully. "Ｉ ｗａｓ ｂｏｒｎ ｌｏｖｉｎｇ ｙｏｕ. Ｄｏ Ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ａ ｒｅａｓｏｎ? Ｈｏｗ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｅｘｐｌａｉｎ ｌｏｖｅ?" 3D had tears starting to pour from its eyes. "Ｔｈａｔ ｈｕｒｔｓ, ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ! Ｔｈｅ ｐａｉｎ'ｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｈｅｒｅ ｉｎ ｍｙ ｃｈｅｓｔ!" She placed a hand over the bloody wound.

**Perhaps a deal can be struck.**

**Ask 3D if there is anything she wants.**

**In return she can bring Yang back to us.**

"Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗａｎｔ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｂｕｔ ｔｏ ｌｉｖｅ, ｔｏ ｌｏｖｅ, ｔｏ ｂｅ ｌｏｖｅｄ, ａｎｄ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｍｅ. Ｐｌｅａｓｅ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｅｒａｓｅ ｍｅ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｉｔ'ｓ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈａｔ ｗａｙ."

**This is getting us nowhere.**

**Make sure everyone's ready and willing to go.**

Ruby was so preoccupied with 3D that she forgot all about their main quest to escape and find Weiss (and others too of course).

"Time to get shit done." Ruby thought, flexing her arms and having a serious look on her face. But it just made her look more like a dork.

Ruby was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Blake chuckle. "Uh...Ruby?" She said while wiping away the last of her tears, a small smile returning on her face.

Ruby tilted her head to the side in question, and Blake pointed behind her.

Oh. It seems that the others had decided to sleep.

King sat against a wall, while Velvet and Ren rested against him. Ren was resting his head on King's shoulder while Velvet was curled up on the floor, using King's lap as a pillow.

Ruby smiled at the scene. Guess it was time they had some sleep, while they had the chance.

**It's best to let Blake rest a bit.**

**Take first watch.**

**Ask 3D if she'd like to join you or sleep.**

Blake headed towards the others, nodding sleepily at Ruby as she tells her goodnight. Ruby asks 3D what she is going to do.

"Ｙｅａｈ ｎｏ, Ｉ'ｍ ｇｏｎｎａ ｃａｔｃｈ ｓｏｍｅ Ｚ'ｓ ｄｕｄｅ." It walked toward the others general area, but slept further away from them.

* * *

**A/N: They have been doing a lot of things, can't believe they didn't pass out sooner. It's funny how the situation kinda resolved itself huh XD. Next chapter is going to be insanely cray, like you don't even know. And you really wouldn't if you don't follow the comic on tumblr, or join in the irc chat once in a while. That's okay tho, I'll try my best to keep it awesome for ya. Thanks for reading!**


	20. Dreamweaver

**A/N: I always try to have something to say in each chapter cuz it looks empty when I don't see this bold lettering up here XD. Just so ya know when you come across "WQ" it's read as "dub cue". Okay? Okies.**

* * *

Ruby sits alone on one of the tables, watching over everyone. Minutes pass. Each minute feels like an hour. Hours pass, each of them feeling like a day.

After about four hours, King wakes up suddenly. Ruby just sits there and watches him with a hand under her chin. She had to sit like this after her head kept nodding as she felt really tired.

King carefully moves everyone off of him and walks over to Ruby.

"Ｗｈｙ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｓｔｉｌｌ ａｗａｋｅ? Ｗｈｙ ｈａｖｅｎ'ｔ ｙｏｕ ｓｗｉｔｃｈｅｄ ｗｉｔｈ ａｎｙｏｎｅ ｙｅｔ? Ｙｏｕ ｎｅｅｄ ｓｌｅｅｐ Ｒｕｂｙ."

Ruby gives him a tired smile. It's nice of him to be worried about her.

"It's ok, I can take it. I already slept earlier when I was healing from a wound."

King frowns, then holds a hand out to Ruby. "Ｙｏｕ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｇｏ ｇｅｔ ｓｏｍｅ ｒｅｓｔ. Ｉ'ｌｌ ｓｗｉｔｃｈ ｗｉｔｈ ｙｏｕ, ｏｋａｙ?"

Ruby accepts his offer with a tired smile, taking his hand to help her off the table. She slowly makes her way to where the others are sleeping. She takes the spot King had previously occupied and curls up. Once she closes her eyes it doesn't take long for her to fall asleep.

Ruby dreams.

Everywhere Ruby looks, all she can see is darkness. However she notices that another person is there with her. The figure is shrouded in a large hooded cloak. Their back is toward Ruby, so she can't see their face. It seems the other person hadn't noticed Ruby yet. She can hear them sobbing. Blood surrounds the area around them.

**Identify the person.**

**Do not approach, but ask why they're crying.**

It seems even in her dreams the voices linger in her thoughts.

Ruby decides to greet the figure, raising a hand in a slow wave, she calls out to them.

"Um hello? Are you okay?"

The figure straightens their back, ceasing their sobbing. Very slowly they turn their head to look at Ruby.

They're wearing a mask, it kind of looks like one used in a drama club or something. There's a smile plastered on it with eyes that look like crescents. The mask is split into two colors; a red half with a single tear shape under the eye, and the other half is white.

It does not respond. It simply keeps staring at her. Ruby feels very watched.

**Give the person your name and ask for theirs.**

It's rather unnerving not knowing who's behind that mask. Hopefully the figure won't ignore her.

"Uh, my name is Ruby Rose. What's your name?"

Ruby waited for a few long seconds, believing that she wouldn't get an answer, but then the figure finally reacts. They stand up quickly in surprise. Ruby then notices that there is a noose tied loosely around their neck.

"Ｒｕｂｙ?"

**Materialize Crescent Rose.**

She gripped her right hand into a fist, only to feel her fingers wrap around something. She didn't have to look to know that Crescent Rose had somehow materialized into her grip. The familiar weight of her weapon was one she could not forget.

When the figure notice she was now armed it spoke to her in alarm.

"Ｒｕｂｙ? Ｗｈａｔ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｄｏｉｎｇ?"

It was hard to tell whether the figure was male or female, since their voice was somewhat muffled by the mask. Judging from their stature though, Ruby figured it was probably more female than male.

"Tell me your name."

"Ｍｙ ｎａｍｅ ｉｓ ＷＱ. Ｉ'ｖｅ ｂｅｅｎ ｖｅｒｙ ｅａｇｅｒ ｔｏｏ ｓｅｅ ｙｏｕ." They were slowly raising their hand, and Ruby sees that they're holding a pair of scissors. "Ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ," WQ pointed the scissors at Ruby. "Ｗｈａｔ ｃｏｌｏｒ ｉｓ ｙｏｕｒ ｂｌｏｏｄ?"

They stared each other down for a few moments, no one making a move.

"Ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ ｔｈｅ ａｎｓｗｅｒ." WQ demanded of Ruby.

**Tell her: My blood is red like roses.**

Ruby didn't feel too threatened by WQ. This was Ruby's dream, she had control over it.

She continued to stare down WQ as she spoke confidently. Rose petals began to gather around Ruby's back and shoulders.

"My blood"

"..."

"Is red."

Ruby raised her weapon, pointing the muzzle of the rifle at WQ. Rose petals continued to gather at her back, creating something very familiar and important: her cape.

"Red like roses."

As the two continued their stare down, a breeze blew through, sweeping away the darkness. Now everything was bright, the whole area illuminated in a white light. The breeze caused Ruby's fully formed cape to wrap around in front of her, the petals scattering toward WQ.

WQ's hood had fallen off to reveal long pale blond hair whipping behind her. As the petals touched WQ's mask it begins to crack and splinter apart.

WQ withdrew her scissors and loosened her grip on them, letting it clatter onto the ground. She placed her hands under her face to catch some of the fallen pieces of the crumbling mask.

"Ｏｈ ｈｅｃｋｉｅ."

Ruby looked on in astonished curiosity as WQ's face was slowly being revealed. For now, all Ruby could see was her mouth, which had large fangs protruding from the upper lip. Ruby can see blood on her cheeks.

**W-Weiss?**

**Ask WQ if she knows where Weiss is.**

**The noose around her neck is much like the robed figure that whisked Weiss away.**

Ruby couldn't help but think she looked a lot like Weiss.

"You. Tell me where Weiss is. Were you the one that took her away?" Ruby nearly growled out.

"Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ Ｂａｃｋ Ｒａｎｋ Ｋｎｉｇｈｔ. Ｉ ａｍ ＷＱ. Ａｓ ｆｏｒ Ｗｅｉｓｓ..." WQ paused slightly in thought. "Ｗｅｉｓｓ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ, ｎｏ ｓｕｃｈ ｈｕｍａｎ, ｍｏｎｓｔｅｒ, ｏｒ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ ｅｘｉｓｔｓ."

**Step closer, Ruby.**

**Do you recognize that face distinctly?**

Ruby discards her weapon. Crescent Rose vanishes without a trace. She steps closer to WQ to try and get a better look. She looks really familiar.

"You're..." Ruby tentatively reaches out a hand.

"Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔｏｕｃｈ ｍｅ, ｙｏｕ ｂａｓｔａｒｄ."

The rest of the mask then falls away, revealing WQ's face.

"Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏｒｒｙ. Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏＲＲＹ. Ｉ'Ｍ ＳＯＲＲＹ." WQ repeats mournfully.

Ruby gazes upon her face in complete shock, unable to speak. On the sides of WQ's head are two large horns, looking much like a rams. They're inversely curled, and the tips are buried into WQ's eyes. Fresh blood flows from the gouged sockets.

"Ｉ ｄｉｄ ｉｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ."

Then everything went dark.

* * *

**A/N: Oh heckie. Even in her dreams Ruby can't seem to get away from this madness. At least she had her cape back for a little bit. I kinda miss seeing her with it in the comic.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	21. Long Live The Queen

**A/N: Sorry for not updating in a while, but had my finals to worry about. **

**I noticed something weird with the doc manager. In Word, this specific chunk of story is around 2k words, but on here it's barely over 1k. I think it must be the wide text, it is abnormal so the manager takes it differently I guess. Anyways, crazy dream huh? Let's see how things unfold now.**

* * *

Ruby snaps her eyes open. She is awake.

Ruby begins to sit up when King calls out to her.

"Ｇｏｏｄ Ｍｏｒｎｉｎｇ Ｒｕｂｙ!" Ruby looks over to where his voice comes from. "Ｒｅｎ ｍａｄｅ ｐａｎｃａｋｅｓ. Ｃｏｍｅ ｅａｔ." King has a goofy smile on his face.

He and the others are sitting at one of the cafeteria tables, plates full of fresh pancakes in front of them. Ruby noticed 3D wasn't with them. She stood up and scanned the area. She didn't have to look long to see 3D sitting alone at another table further away from everyone. King grabbed her attention once again.

"Ｗｈａｔ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｄｏ ｎｅｘｔ?"

**Ask 3D if she wants to join the group for pancakes.**

3D turns her body to look back at her, a fork in hand with a piece of pancake on it. "ＮｏＮｏ, Ｉ'ｍ ｆｉｎｅ. Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗｏｒｒｙ." She says, shoving the pancake into her mouth.

**Ask King if he knows someone called WQ.**

**Ask 3D if they know an entity named WQ.**

Ruby moves over to sit at the table with everyone else. Ren serves a few pancakes onto an empty plate and sets it in front of Ruby. She thanks him, but before digging in she remembers her odd dream with WQ. Ruby tells the others about her dream.

"So, does WQ sound familiar to you?" She asks the two entities.

3D gets a strange look on her face. King's single eye widens. He looks scared.

"Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｎｏｔ ｇｏｏｄ. Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｔｈａｔ ｏｎｅ. ＷＱ ｉｓ-" Before King could finish 3D cut him off.

"ＬＯＮＧ ＬＩＶＥ ＴＨＥ ＱＵＥＥＮ. ＬＯＮＧ ＬＩＶＥ ＱＵＥＥＮ ＷＱ. ＨＡ ＨＡ ＨＡ." She has a crazed look in her eyes and a manic grin on her face.

Ruby is startled as King rises up and slams a hand on the table, causing his plate of pancakes to bounce up. Spikes shoot out of his arm and he growls at 3D.

"ＷＱ ｉｓ ＮＯＴ ｑｕｅｅｎ ｏｆ ＡＮＹＴＨＩＮＧ. Ｓｈｅ ｆａｎｃｉｅｓ ｈｅｒｓｅｌｆ Ｑｕｅｅｎ ｏｆ Ｂｅａｃｏｎ. Ｓｈｅ ｉｓ ｗｒｏｎｇ."

3D seemed unaffected by his hostility and simply flipped him the bird with both hands. She stuck her tongue out at him, then began chanting "Ｐｒａｉｓｅ ｈｅｒ ｎａｍｅ" repeatedly.

"How do you know WQ?" Ruby asks the two.

"Ｉ ｏｆｔｅｎ ｈｅａｒ ｈｅｒ ｉｎ ｍｙ ｈｅａｄ." King said, placing a hand on his head for emphasis. "Ｕｓｕｓａｌｌｙ ｓｈｅ ｉｓ ｃｒｙｉｎｇ. Ｏｆｔｅｎ, ｓｈｅ ｉｓ ｙｅｌｌｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ ｈｅｒ ｓｕｐｅｒｉｏｒｉｔｙ."

3D opens her arm wide, a wide toothy grin on her face. "Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｔｒｕｌｙ ｂｌｅｓｓｅｄ ｔｏ ｈｅａｒ ｈｅｒ ｖｏｉｃｅ." She says in awe.

King removes his tiara from atop his head, studying it in his hands with a look of remorse. "Ｈｅａｒｉｎｇ ｈｅｒ ｖｏｉｃｅ ｍａｋｅｓ ｍｅ ｆｅｅｌ ｍｏｒｅ ｌｉｋｅ ａ ｍｏｎｓｔｅｒ ｔｈａｎ ａ ｍａｎ." He says sadly.

3D places a hand on her chest, right over her wound. "Ｓｈｅ ｌｏｖｅｓ ｕｓ ｍｏｒｅ ｔｈａｎ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎ. Ｓｈｅ ｉｓ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈａｎ ａｎｙ ｏｆ ｕｓ. Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｔｒｕｌｙ ｂｌｅｓｓｅｄ." She says revered.

**Ask them if WQ is behind all of this.**

King returns the tiara atop his head after giving 3D a disgusted look. 3D simply grins a bit wickedly at him. Ruby observes the two entities' reactions.

3D looks at Ruby with pity, probably for her ignorance. "Ｏｈ ｐｌｅａｓｅ." She says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "ＷＱ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｃａｕｓｅ ｔｈｉｓ."

King has an exasperated expression and places both hands on his hips. "...ｆｏｒ ｏｎｃｅ, ｔｈｉｓ ｉｄｉｏｔ ｉｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ."

**Ask 3D where she first heard the phrase "I did it because I love you."**

**WQ said the same thing.**

3D shook her head and splayed her hands out to her sides in a shrug. "Ｉｔ ｊｕｓｔ ｃａｍｅ ｔｏ ｍｅ. Ｃａｎ'ｔ ｅｘｐｌａｉｎ ｔｈａｔ."

**Ask King why he feels more like a monster when he hears WQ's voice.**

King had a somber look and crosses his arms over his torso. "Ｓｈｅ ｈａｓ...ａ ｃｅｒｔａｉｎ ｉｎｆｌｕｅｎｃｅ." He started.

3D approached the group's table, looking only at King. She activated Ember Celica with a click, and put one leg on the table, but she did nothing more. Probably waiting to pummel King for saying some kind of insult about WQ.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｎｏｔ ｓｔｒｏｎｇ ｅｎｏｕｇｈ ｔｏ ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ ｃｏｎｔｒｏｌ ｍｅ, ｂｕｔ ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｈｅｒｅ. Ｓｏｍｅｈｏｗ, ＷＱ ｈａｓ ｔｈｅ ａｂｉｌｉｔｙ ｔｏ ａｆｆｅｃｔ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ' ｍｏｏｄ ａｎｄ ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ."

**Ask King where that new crown came from. **

King took off the tiara, studying it in his hands. "Ｉｔ'ｓ ａ ｔｉａｒａ. Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈｅｒｅ ｉｔ ｃａｍｅ ｆｒｏｍ, ｂｕｔ..." King has a small smile on his face as he spoke. "Ｂｕｔ ｓｏｍｅｈｏｗ, ｉｔ ｆｅｅｌｓ ｌｉｋｅ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｗａｎｔｅｄ ｍｅ ｔｏ ｈａｖｅ ｉｔ." He placed it back on his head once more.

**Is 3D going to let Yang's body heal?**

**Is she going to walk around with a hole in her chest?**

3D rubbed her face with a hand seeming a bit aggravated. "Ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ ｄｅｎｓｅ? Ｗｅｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｎｏｔ ｐａｙｉｎｇ ａｔｔｅｎｔｉｏｎ?" Ruby looked at her pointedly causing 3D to sigh."Ｆｉｒｓｔ ｏｆ ａｌｌ, ｔｈｉｓ ｂｏｄｙ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｓ ｍｕｃｈ ｍｉｎｅ ａｓ ｉｔ ｗａｓ Ｙａｎｇ'ｓ! Ｓｅｃｏｎｄｌｙ...Ｉ ｓｕｐｐｏｓｅ Ｉ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｒｅｐｅａｔ ｉｔ, ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｓａｋｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｉｄｉｏｔｓ ａｎｄ ｃｈｉｌｄｒｅｎ." She grinned at the last part. She brought a hand over the wound in her chest before continuing. "Ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｕｎｄ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｃｅｒｔａｉｎｌｙ ｋｉｌｌ Ｙａｎｇ! Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ, Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ Ｙａｎｇ! Ｕｓｉｎｇ ｍｙ ｐｏｗｅｒ, Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ ｄｙｉｎｇ-ｂｕｔ Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ ａｌｌｏｗｉｎｇ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｕｎｄ ｔｏ ｈｅａｌ! Ｉｆ Ｙａｎｇ ｃａｍｅ ｂａｃｋ ｎｏｗ, ｓｈｅ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｄｉｅ."

"Ｉｎ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｗｏｒｄｓ, 3Ｄ ｉｓ ｈｏｌｄｉｎｇ Ｙａｎｇ ｈｏｓｔａｇｅ." King further clarified to the group.

3D clenched her hand as she moved it away from her chest, and grinned wickedly as she looked at them.

"Ｐｒｅｃｉｓｅｌｙ."

* * *

**A/N: I'm kinda eager to see your reactions to 3D now, heeheehee. There were mixed reactions, but a majority seem to find her being an big 'ol patoot. Tell me what you think of 3D keeping Yang hostage in a review or pm. Lookin forward to it~**

**Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!**


	22. The Offices

**A/N: Well, WQ sure does bring out the best in people. Time to see if our rag-tag team will hold together alright.**

* * *

**Inventory check.**

A silence settles over the group, stern gazes piercing through 3D, who simply grins. Eventually everyone finishes their meal and prepares to proceed to their next destination. Ruby calls for an inventory check from all the members.

Ruby carries her beloved Crescent Rose, the knife she got from Pyrrha, a single first aid kit, King's crown polish, and the spare batteries she had for the flashlight.

King has with him the Journal, a rag, and the pen nib.

Blake seems completely combat ready as she is carrying not only her own weapon, Gambol Shroud, but Ren's double pistols, as well as the metal pipe she's had since Ruby first encountered her.

Ren holds the two letters from Nora and the large textbook on Beacon's history Ruby had given him. It's not exactly a reliable weapon, but at least it's something.

3D's inventory hasn't changed at all from before. She still has her music player and headphones, along with the strange horn. Of course Ember Celica is on her wrists and saves up space, allowing her to still be able to carry more things.

Velvet only has her huge knife, which is still covered in 3D's blood.

**Let's just go to the office.**

Everyone seems prepared, so Ruby becomes determined to head out. Finally. Time to move on.

As they move out 3D decides it's a great time to pester King. She slowly moves a hand towards his face, her index finger pointed out. King stands firmly in place as she pokes him, forcing him to tilt his head. King just growls at her, placing both hands on his hips. Blake looks at 3D with a glare, her arms crossed in annoyance.

They walk out of the doors in single file. Ruby being the lead, then followed by 3D, Ren, Blake, Velvet, and finally King.

The hall they travel through has them pass the corpse of entity Nora. Ruby feels terrible upon seeing it, but she doesn't stop progressing. She can hear Velvet gasp at the sight of the body in shock. King's voice could be heard next; probably explaining to her what happened.

Ruby reaches the bottom of a set of stairs. Up these stairs are the offices and classrooms. The stairs have two different paths, but both lead to the same place.

As they make their way up to the second flight of stairs 3D detours from the rest of the group by going up the opposite flight. Once they reach the next floor Ruby waits for 3D to approach the group before speaking.

She could hear 3D say faintly, "Ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｉｒｓ ｈａｖｅ ｂｅｅｎ ａｓｃｅｎｄｅｄ."

Now Ruby has to make a choice on which way to go. She informs the others of this dilemma by stating their options.

"Offices are on this side." She points behind her, towards the right from where they came from. "Classrooms twenty and up are on that side." She points toward 3D's direction. "What do you think?" She asks everyone.

"Where to first?" Velvet says to everyone.

"You can decide." Ren says to Ruby.

"I don't care either way." Blake tells her.

King says nothing.

**King looks a bit nervous.**

**Ask him what's up.**

King rubs the back of his head with one hand. "Ｗｅｌｌ, ｕｈ...ｉｔ'ｓ...ｎｏｔ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ...ｉ'ｍ ｊｕｓｔ...ｎｅｒｖｏｕｓ. Ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｏｆｆｉｃｅ, ａｎｄ...ｗｈａｔ'ｓ ｉｎｓｉｄｅ ｉｔ."

**Tell Blake to prop her metal rod upright in the middle of the floor and let it drop.**

**Whichever direction it points to is where we go first.**

Blake nods in affirmation to Ruby's plan. "Awesome." She says.

The gang gather around as Blake steps away from the rod, watching in anticipation which way the rod will land. King stays back, his hands held near his mouth as he observes timidly. The pipe wobbles before falling over to one side. King's anxiety seems to increase as he fidgets uncomfortably. The rod points to the offices.

The decision having been made, Blake picks up the pipe and everyone heads over to the offices. Ruby walks past most of the doors, reading the nameplates on each one. The door she was searching for happens to be one at the end of the hall. The nameplate reads 'Ozpin'.

* * *

**A/N: What could be in the offices that makes King act so bizarrely? You'll have to wait for the next chappy to find out!**

**As always, thank you all for reading and I hope this story has been keeping you interested.**


	23. Confined Queens

**A/N: Time to find out what King is so worried about!**

* * *

Ruby turns the handle and pushes the door open without hesitance. After all, King did mention that the entity in the offices was not hostile. Having open the door completely, Ruby spots a humanoid entity sitting behind a desk before her. As she examines the entity's characteristics the others file in alongside her. King stays in the back, shivering uncontrollably.

This entity had two heads; she also noticed there was a large chain at the base of its neck.

The one to Ruby's right had three empty bleeding eye sockets, the third eye being at the center of its forehead. It also had three small horns circling the front of its head. It had no mouth, and the left arm hung limply at its side, but it had a single large wing attached to its back.

The other head had only two horns, each one at the side of its head. A diamond shaped design was on the middle of its forehead. It had two pairs of eyes, a smaller set above the normal sized ones. There were also glasses perched on its face, but only over the bigger eyes. The earpieces were hooked around its horns. Its fanged mouth hung open, with drool flowing freely from it. Perhaps it had an inability to close its jaw? The arm that this side seemed to control was embedded with three large spikes.

It was turning the page of a book before Ruby had entered.

The four-eyed head glanced up at the group with a stern stare. Ruby tentatively raised a hand in a wave. "Um...Hi?" 3D waved to it as well.

The creature raised its clawed hand and waved back, while its other half gave a small flap of its wing.

"Well, it doesn't seem…hostile…" Ruby thought.

Ruby looked around at her friends to observe their reactions, most of them were basically mute, but they were calm. Except for King who was still quaking in anxiousness.

**"King, seriously what's wrong? You look like you're freaking out back there."**

King's single eye widened so much that one could see the veins. His arm spikes had come out in his state of nervousness, the trembling becoming more noticeable through them.

"Ｆ-Ｆｒｅａｋｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ? Ｗｈｙ ｗｏｕｌｄ Ｉ ｂｅ ｆｒｅａｋｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ? Ｈａｈａｈａｈａ."

**Ask King if he knows this entity.**

As Ruby asks him the head with four eyes squints into a piercing glare directly at King. King manages to steel himself and moves past Ruby towards the creature.

"Ｉｎｄｅｅｄ- Ｉ ｄｏ ｋｎｏｗ ｔｈｉｓ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ..." King stands in front of the desk, a hand clutching his scarf and a large tear is about to roll off his eye. He directs everyone's attention to the eyeless head. "Ｐｒｏｐｈｙｌａｘｉｓ Ｓａｃｒｉｆｉｃｅ Ｑｕｅｅｎ." Then he looks at the other. "Ｚｕｇｚｗａｎｇ Ｂｌｕｎｄｅｒ Ｑｕｅｅｎ".

The latter entity continues to glare menacingly at him as he continues to speak, raising its clawed hand.

"Ｔｈｅｓｅ ｔｗｏ ｗｅｒｅ ｆｏｒｍｅｒｌｙ ｋｎｏｗｎ ａｓ-" King was cut off as Zugzwang Blunder Queen took a swipe at him, managing to leave a large gash on his left arm.

King grasps his bleeding arm firmly, his hand balling into a fist, but he doesn't cry out in pain. Tears begin streaming from his eye then.

"Ｇｌｙｎｄａ Ｇｏｏｄｗｉｔｃｈ."

**Why is she attacking King?**

**Is it because he got too close?**

**Or is it something personal?**

Ruby looks at King worriedly. King's has a solemn expression

"Ｉ...Ｉ ｗａｓ ａ ｆｏｏｌ. Ｉ ｇｏｔ ｔｏｏ ｃｌｏｓｅ. Ｉｔ...Ｉｔ ｈａｓ ｌｉｍｉｔｅｄ ｒａｎｇｅ."King breathed heavily. "Ｉ ｄｏｕｂｔ ｅｉｔｈｅｒ ｏｆ ｔｈｅｍ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｍｅ. Ｔｈｅｙ'ｒｅ...ｎｏｔ ｌｉｋｅ ｍｅ. Ｉ'ｍ ｍｅ, ｎｏｔ ｔｈｅｓｅ ａｒｅ...ｊｕｓｔ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ."

**Thst thing was Glynda?**

**How come it has two heads?**

King moves his hand away from the wound on his arm to wipe away his straying tears. "Ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｂｅ ｆｏｏｌｅｄ. Ｔｈｉｓ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｊｕｓｔ ｏｎｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ. Ｔｈｅｓｅ ａｒｅ ｔｗｏ ｓｅｐａｒａｔｅ ｂｅｉｎｇｓ." King lifts his wounded arm carefully making the blood drip from it a bit faster. "Ｔｈｏｕｇｈ ｔｈｅｙ ｂｏｔｈ ｏｒｉｇｉｎａｔｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｈｅｒ, ｔｈｅｙ ａｒｅ ｗｈｏｌｌｙ ｓｅｐａｒａｔｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ. Ｅｘｃｅｐｔ, ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｗｅｎｔ ｗｒｏｎｇ." He says regretfully.

Ruby guessed he meant the chain around their necks.

**How does King know for sure that was Glynda?**

King sighs sadly. "Ｗｈｅｎ...Ｉ ｗａｓ...ｈｉｍ, Ｉ ｄｉｄ ｍａｎｙ ｔｈｉｎｇｓ Ｉ'ｍ ｎｏｔ ｐｒｏｕｄ ｏｆ."

_Ozpin's shoulders shake as he tries to contain the sobs that threaten to escape. Tears pour freely down his face as he looks at the sight before him._

_Glynda awakens to find she sits before him in his office chair. She's wounded, and wears a tired expression on her face._

_She lifts her arms and gazes at the cuffs that encircle her wrists. Soon, lava starts to flow from the orifices on her face._

_The immolation occurs as the fire begins to consume Glynda._

"Ｗｈｅｎ Ｉ ｓｔａｒｔｅｄ ｒｅａｌｉｚｉｎｇ ｗｈｏ Ｉ ｕｓｅｄ ｔｏ ｂｅ...ａｎｄ Ｉ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒｅｄ ｔｈｉｓ ｒｏｏｍ...Ｉ...Ｉ ｗａｎｔｅｄ ｔｏ ｔｅｌｌ ｙｏｕ ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄｎ'ｔ ｇｏ ｈｅｒｅ. Ｔｈａｔ ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ａｖｏｉｄ ｔｈｉｓ ｒｏｏｍ." He lowers his arm to his side and grasps at the wound once again. "Ｉ ｓｕｐｐｏｓｅ, ｅｖｅｎ ａｆｔｅｒ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ, Ｉ ａｍ ｓｔｉｌｌ ａ ｃｏｗａｒｄｌｙ ｍａｎ."

At that moment Zugzwang Blunder Queen took off its glasses and makes garbled sounds. As it continued to make the sounds, its speech becomes clearer and clearer, until they were able to understand it.

"Ｏｚｐｉｎ?"

It seemed that the entity remembered something of its previous life, or it recognized who King used to be. Everyone waited a beat to see if it would say anything else, but it remained silent.

* * *

**A/N: Whoo man! Glynda sure did have a series of unfortunate events xD. It's really quite fascinating that she has two entity forms rather than one. I wonder what special conditions cause that to occur. Give me your theories in a review or pm.**

**Thanks for reading, enjoy your salty salt, hahah.**


	24. Ruby Is Priority

**A/N: I must admit, seeing Protector of Ruby and Editor in the comic for the first time got my all hyped up. I hope ya'll get hype after reading this chappy.**

* * *

**Someone attend to King's wounds.**

Turning her attention back on King, Ruby took out the first aid kit and started to approach him. However before she could get much closer King backpedaled quickly away from her, keeping his bleeding arm away from her.

"Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔｏｕｃｈ ｍｅ!" He shouted at her. "Ｙｏｕ...Ｍｉｇｈｔ ｇｅｔ ｉｎｆｅｃｔｅｄ. Ｗｅ ｃａｎ'ｔ ｒｉｓｋ ｔｈａｔ." King explained.

Ruby acknowledged this gesture, but she didn't want to just leave him like that. While she was indecisive on what to do, 3D grabbed the first aid kit from her and stepped past. She placed the kit on a small desk nearby, opening it and taking out the necessary things.

As she stood before King he looked at her warily, but soon he uncovered his wound and allowed her to clean and bandage it. She also used a disinfectant wipe to clean off the blood on his other hand. When she had finished completely she gave him a bright toothy smile,.

"Ａｌｌ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ!"

King looked at her, somewhat dazed by the change in attitude. He smiled back at her, ruffling her hair affectionately.

Ruby was surprised. They were arguing with each other mere moments ago, and now here they were being all chummy with each other. It was quite an odd, if not endearing, sight.

"Ｔｈａｎｋ ｙｏｕ, 3Ｄ."

3D pumped a fist into the air triumphantly. "Ｉ ｈｅｌｐｅｄ!"

**Ask "Glynda" if she recognizes anyone.**

Ruby decides it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Rubbing the back of her head, she speaks cautiously to the entities. "Uhm...P-Professor...Do you, uhh, do you recognize us?"

Zugzwang Blunder Queen props their arm on the table, resting its head in its hand. It looks disinterestedly at its counterpart, which seems to perk up at Ruby's question. Prophylaxis Sacrifice Queen flaps its wing excitedly in response, straining to get its thoughts out. Zugzwang sighs and dons its glasses once again. After clearing its throat it points its hand directly at Ruby.

"Ｒｕｂｙ. It says with a bit of strain. "Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｉｓ. Ｔｈｅ. Ｐｒｉｏｒｉｔｙ."

"The...priority?" Ruby is caught off guard by this. She's not entirely sure how to feel. The entity continues.

"Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｉｓ."...Ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ'ｓ ｐｕｒｐｏｓｅ. 'Ｐｒｏｔｅｃｔ Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｒｕｂｙ ｉｓ ｔｈｅ ｐｒｉｏｒｉｔｙ'...Ｐｒｏｔｅｃｔｏｒ ｏｆ Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ'ｓ ｐｕｒｐｏｓｅ ｉｓ ａ ｇｉｆｔ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ Ｑｕｅｅｎ...Ａ ｐｕｒｐｏｓｅ Ｐｒｏｔｅｃｔｏｒ ｃａｎｎｏｔ ｈｏｐｅ ｔｏ ｆｕｌｆｉｌｌ."

Ruby is dumbstruck by this reveal.

"**Why can you not fulfill that purpose? And why me?"**

Zugzwang clutches at the chain around its neck, Ruby had almost forgotten about that.

"Ｔｈａｔ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｏｂｖｉｏｕｓ. Ｎｅｉｔｈｅｒ ｏｆ ｕｓ ｃａｎ ｍｏｖｅ." It places its hand back on the desk. "Ｗｈｙ Ｒｕｂｙ? Ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ...Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ. Ｉ...Ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ｍｏｒｅ ｉｎｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎ."

**So, what has Proeditor been doing since they can't move?**

Zugzwang looked down at the book laid in front of it. "Ｗｅ ｒｅａｄ, ｍｏｓｔｌｙ. Ｔｈｅｒｅ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｍｕｃｈ ｅｌｓｅ ｔｏ ｄｏ."

**Give King's tiara to the entity.**

Ruby had forgotten about the strange tiara King had mysteriously acquired. She turned to him, making eye contact with him before looking at the brightly glowing tiara. King seemed to have caught on to her line of thinking, as he moved a hand towards it.

"Ｉ ｇｕｅｓｓ...ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｉｍｅ ｔｏ ｒｅｔｕｒｎ ｔｈｉｓ." He said solemnly.

He removed the tiara from atop his head and moved over to the entities. Zugzwang stared wide-eyed at the purple glowing tiara. After placing it on the desk, the entity picked it up carefully and held it at eye level. When it looked up at them its four eyes were brimming with tears, tears of lava.

It dropped the tiara onto the desk and quickly swiped off its glasses as well. There was lava pouring out of its eyes and mouth, as well as from Prophylaxis' eyes. Soon it was consumed by it, and a bright flash caused everyone to avert or cover their eyes.

As the light faded, a familiar figure sat before them.

* * *

**A/N: 3D is such a cutie. She seems to be getting better with the whole friendship thing. At least nobody is shooting her anymore xD. Also, oh snapple! Bright flashy lights and lava = epic (&amp; prolly painful) transformation. Now they are magical girls, hahah. Yes, even King.**


	25. The Good Witch

**A/N: Okay, 'familiar figure' that's gotta make ya freak out, right? I hope so, now get more hype on this informative chappy because GlyndaQuest begins. Hahah.**

* * *

**Promptly flip the fuck out at all these startling developments.**

"Oh fuck."

Ruby proceeds to flip the fuck out. She gasps in equal shock and surprise, covering her mouth with both hands while doing so.

"Miss Rose...Please watch your language- we are on school grounds, after all." Glynda Goodwitch says to her while putting her glasses on.

Ruby rubs the back of her head in embarrassment. "S-Sorry."

That's prof. Goodwitch alright.

**Ask King if he's okay.**

**See what his reaction is.**

Ruby takes a glance at King to see how he's handling the sudden turn of events. King is quiet, as he simply stares at the professor. Ruby returns her attention back to Glynda.

**Check if Glynda is alright.**

"Um, professor, are you okay? You're not in any pain right now, are you?" Ruby asked.

"...Yes, I am fine. Thank you for your concern." She answers a bit stoically. Ruby notices Glynda's attention is occupied as she looks over at King, who had moved past her to reach for something. "...What are you doing?"

King turns to face her, a slight blush of nervousness apparent on his face. He points a finger toward the back area.

"...Ｔｈｅ ｋｅｙ-" He starts nervously, but Glynda cuts him off.

"...How do you know where the key is? The only one who knows that is-"

King acquires the key during this pause, and looks to Glynda sadly. "Ｇｌｙｎｄａ, Ｉ-" Once again she cuts him off.

"Excuse me?" She says with a growl. "I'm sorry, I don't recall being on a first name basis with you." Her emerald eyes seem to exude a menacing glow. "...Who exactly are you?"

The group fidgets nervously, feeling like a bunch of awkward third wheels. King panics as he looks to Ruby.

"Ｒｕｂｙ ｗｈａｔ ｄｏ Ｉ ｄｏ Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｒｕｂｙ, ｈｅｌｐ." He says frantically.

**Calm Glynda down.**

**Reason with her to listen.**

**Tell her the truth.**

"I am calm. I am listening. And I am eagerly awaiting an explanation." She says.

**Get Glynda out of those chains.**

**Introduce King to Glynda.**

**Explain who he once was.**

**Explain what you all have been through.**

While King opens the locks, Ruby explains everything that happened so far, starting with Weiss' disappearance.

Certain points of her retelling leave Ruby feeling drained and very melancholic. She had to pause occasionally, being unable to speak sometimes. Glynda waits patiently during these moments, not saying a word, though she gives Ruby a sympathetic look. Even with the few pauses, it doesn't take too long for Ruby to complete her retell of all the events.

Everything seems so long ago.

Glynda massages her wrists to stimulate the blood flow, her features somber. "Thank you for the explanation..." She then turns her attention on King. "So. Ozpin turned into you, did he?"

King rubs his head bashfully. "Ｕ-Ｕｍ, ｙｅｓ."

Glynda stands up abruptly and approaches King. King looks down at her like a kicked puppy, while she stares back stoically.

After a beat, she then crosses her arms and lets out a chuckle. "Ha. Well. It could be worse." King looks at her quizzically. "I mean, you could be hostile." She says as she places her hands on her hips.

"Ｈｅｈ, ｙｅａｈ..." King rubs his head shyly.

"Or you could be a spitter!"

"Ｈａｈａｈａ, ｙｅａｈ."

**Ask Glynda what she remembers.**

"Recently, not much. You know the feeling, I'm sure- when you are having a bad dream, and you fight to wake up. You're not there, might as well be dead- then, all of a sudden, you exist again. However, you are not yet awake- fighting your own mind, you are in the dark, cut off from your senses. I remember that feeling. Somehow, I held on. I kept being pushed back down into the dark, but every time those things I had become remembered that they were alive, that they were more than what they had become, I was there. I remember hearing a voice- it said to go back, to revert, to let myself be pushed under again...A few times, I did. It was...better that way. Easier. It didn't hurt as much- how do you feel pain when you don't exist?"

**Asks Glynda if she has anything in her inventory.**

"I don't have anything of use. Sorry."

**Have King show her the journal.**

**Maybe she can tell you what Ozpin did to seal off Beacon.**

Ruby asks King about his journal and he dutifully hands the tome over to Glynda. As Glynda peers through its contents she seems to pause at a certain point for a while. _"I miss her."_ She closes her eyes and shuts the book, silently crying. Ruby decides not to push her further into reading it.

**Ask Glynda if she is able to come along or if she needs a rest.**

Glynda looks at Ruby with glowing green eyes. "I'm okay. Ready when you are."

"A-Are you sure? Uh, you look really tired."

"Ｙｅａｈ ｄｕｄｅ, ｙｏｕ ｌｏｏｋ ｌｉｋｅ ｓｈｉｔ." 3D says.

"I assure you, I am fine and ready to move out at any time. Additionally, I will do my best to answer any questions you have."

**See if she can answer a few things.**

**What's a spitter?**

**Ask her how entities are made.**

**See if she knows how the infection spreads.**

"First of all, infection spreads via contact with infected blood. Direct skin contact. For example, from what you told me, miss Nikos' hand was covered in infected blood- TTSE'S, to be specific. If we assume TTSE lifted her off the ground, it all becomes easier to visualize. In an effort to escape, she may have opted to drive the knife into its hand- splashing her own hand with its blood...you know the rest. Now, a 'spitter' is what we call an entity that, well, spits- it uses its blood as a defense or weapon, spraying- and thus infecting- those who get too close. And that, dear students, is how entities are made. And that, as they say, is that. Anything else?"

* * *

**A/N: Glynda is so informative. It's great that we're able to have her on the team now. Ya just gotta hope she doesn't do some sort of heroic sacrifice bs xD.****Ya got educated in the art of entity origins, ya betta be happy. lol **

**Thanks for reading ya'll!**


	26. Unwanted Thoughts

**A/N: Ruby's thoughts aren't always the best...**

* * *

**Nora's infected blood was on Ren's nose!**

**Ren may be infected!**

**Is there anything they can do to stop someone from turning?**

Ruby takes Glynda aside to ask about Ren. She explains why she thinks he may be infected in greater detail.

Glynda considers the information for a moment. "...I will be honest- and blunt. From what you have told me...I am quite surprised that he is still human. When someone is infected, the first sign is smoke. It starts very quickly, and it rapidly escalates. I don't know what this means for him-he has not turned yet, but I think it is safe to assume he is infected and may turn."

**Give Glynda the knife in Ruby's inventory.**

**While we're at it, clean off Velvet's knife.**

Ruby proceeds to hand over the knife to her professor. "Thanks, but-" Glynda puts the knife away and pulls out her Dust crop form its strap on her boot. "I do still have this."

Ruby then moves over to Velvet and asks to see her knife.

"Help yourself-be careful though."

"Alright, let's get this clean."

While cleaning off the blade Ruby hears 3D say nearby, "Ｄｕｄｅ, ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｍｙ ｂｌｏｏｄ..."

**King smooch Glynda**

The thought pops into her head after she hands the knife back to Velvet. Ruby cups her hands around her mouth and shouts. "Kiss her. Do it!"

Glynda and King give her humorless looks.

"Ｒｕｂｙ ｎｏ."

"Let's not." Glynda says as she pushes King's head away, just in case.

**Feed bloodied rag to 3D.**

Without considering her actions, Ruby hands the rag over to 3D. She takes it and begins to chew on it. Ruby realizes she let her thoughts control her actions again and worriedly watches.

The rest of the group look at 3D with varying degrees of shock and disgust, well, except King and Glynda. They look quite unamused by all of it. Then, like a vacuum, 3D consumes the entire rag in one swallow, making Ruby feel even more worried, while the others look like they may vomit. King looks disappointed in 3D's unnecessary actions and Glynda remained expressionless.

**How does Glynda know so much about entities?**

**Did she operate with them at some point, before everything went down?**

"Well, I was there...I don't remember anything past becoming an entity."

Without any kind of warning the next string of thoughts forced its way out of Ruby. Causing her to blurt out something regrettable.

**"We need to chain up Ren as Glynda was. It's a cruel thing, but it gave her enough time for a reversing method to be found."**

Ruby promptly covered her mouth. She didn't mean to say that. She didn't want to say that. This was not something she would normally consider.

She met Glynda's gaze, which was fixed on her sternly; an eerie, yet fierce green glow emanating from them.

"Miss Rose. I cannot believe you would even dare suggest such a thing to me. You should be ashamed. He is your friend. I will never allow that to happen to anyone again."

Tears were starting to form in Ruby's eyes. "I didn't mean to say that." She faced Ren, who looked away from her before their eyes met. "Ren, I didn't mean-"

"I know what you meant." He cut her off abruptly.

**Survey room for anything.**

There was an awkward silence that befell the room. Ruby took in a deep breath to try and settle some of her nerves before speaking again.

"Let's look around the room for anything that may be useful or interesting." She said halfheartedly.

"I will save you the trouble of searching this room." Glynda said as she walked over to a small safe in the room. It had an electronic keypad on it. "This cabinet holds all of his info about this...Unfortunately, I can't open it for you. It's locked with a complex system-not even Ozpin has the code! It resets every few hours, randomizing and assigning a new 7-digit code. I...I have no idea how he's able to puzzle out the combination every time. He's really something." The professor then moved toward a door near the desk, pointing at it. "Every other book or file in here is unrelated to our situation. Headmaster bedroom is through here. Bed, closet, bathroom-things you when you work all the time and refuse to leave like an idiot." She finished sarcastically. "Apart from the safe, there isn't much of interest here."

**Ask King about the cabinet.**

**Does he have any memories of Ozpin's technique for opening it?**

King closed his eye thoughtfully and stood still for a while in deep thought. After a few moments he opened his eye and rubbed his head in slight frustration. "Ｉ'ｍ ｖｅｒｙ ｓｏｒｒｙ, ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｏ ｉｄｅａ ｈｏｗ ｉｔ'ｓ ｄｏｎｅ. Ｆｉｇｕｒｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ ａ ｒａｎｄｏｍｌｙ ａｓｓｉｇｎｅｄ 7-ｄｉｇｉｔ ｎｕｍｂｅｒ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｈｅａｄ...ｉｔ ｓｅｅｍｓ ｉｍｐｏｓｓｉｂｌｅ."

"Yes...he was...really something." Glynda says with a small smile.

* * *

**A/N: Thousands of unknown voices speaking all at once in your mind. Sometimes your thoughts just slip out. Poor Rooboo.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	27. VestKing is BestKing

**A/N: It gets pretty salty once again in this chapter. Brace fer impact!**

* * *

Ruby sighs in defeat, looking wistfully at the cabinet. She looks up when she hears the activation of someone's weapon.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｈａｐｐｅｎｉｎｇ. Ａｉｎ'ｔ ｎｏ ｄｏｏｒ ｄｉｓｏｂｅｙｉｎｇ ｍｅ."

The next thing she saw was 3D standing in front of the cabinet with a primed Ember Celica. Two long spikes protruded from her knuckles as she fired a powerful Dust energized bullet upon impact with the safe.

In the aftermath the firepower cremated 3D's claws into ashes, and the safe remained pristine. It was completely unharmed-not even a scratch.

It took a second for 3D to look at her hand and start crying. "Ｏｗ, ｏｗ, ｏｗ, ｏｗ. Ｉｔ ｈｕｒｔｓ, ｉｔ ｈｕｒｔｓ, ｉｔ ｈｕｒｔｓ. Ｏｗ, ｏｗ, ｏｗ."

Ruby looks at her sympathetically and pats 3D's head, ruffling her hair a bit. "Hey buddy you ok?"

"Ｕｈ-ｈｕｈ." 3D sniffles.

"You wanna come snoop in Ozpin's stuff with us?" Ruby says to her as reassurance.

"...Ｙｅａ."

Upon entering, Ruby sees that there really isn't much in the room. There were no distinct decorations, as the walls are all bare. There is only a bed, a wardrobe, a single large window, and a door leading to the bathroom.

**Potty break!**

Ruby asks the others if they need a 'potty break'.

"I do kinda have to go." Ruby says.

"Same." Blake replies tiredly.

"Aye..." Ren says with a sigh.

Ruby goes first.

After doing her business, Ruby turns the sink's cold faucet all the way on. Hoping the noise will hide her sobs.

*Hic*

"W- Why..." Tears fall into the sink, the salty fluid mixing with the frigid water going down the drain. "Why is this happening? Why do I..." She stares at her reflection in the mirror and meets the gaze of a miserable girl that has tears streaming down her face.

"What's wrong with me?" She asks the mirror image, and when having no response she grits her teeth to try and stop the sobs from coming out. She hunches over and grasps the edge of the sink for support. Why was she so weak?

"These aren't my thoughts. Thinking things I don't want. Saying things I don't' mean..." The trapped sobs begin to wrack her body, so she tries to hold herself together by wrapping her arms around her body.

"What is wrong with me?"

At this moment the bathroom door swings open and closes shut after a short moment. A figure approaches her carefully. Ruby can't see too clearly through her blurred, teary vision, but she recognizes who it is.

"3D?" She chokes on a sob as she says it.

3D reached out a shakey hand towards her, and she begins to sing a familiar lullaby. "When the days turn dark, when we start to fall..."

When Ruby doesn't push her away 3D takes her in her arms and holds the crying girl close, embracing her gently. "I will pick you up and we'll fix it all."

Ruby closes her eyes and can feel some of the stress leave her body, the violent shaking having ceased. _"Don't you worry about the dark. I will light up the night with the love in my heart."_

Ruby reciprocates the hug, squeezing 3D tightly. "Yang..." She says quietly.

3D only looks at her with a solemn expression.

After Ruby calms down, she and 3D leave the bathroom. As soon as she exits she's met with an excited King.

"Ｒｕｂｙ! Ｒｕｂｙ! Ｒｕｂｙ! Ｒｕｂｙ!"

"Uh- yes?" Ruby looks up at King to find him no longer shirtless. He's now sporting a dapper looking vest.

"Ｗｅ ｒａｉｄｅｄ ｔｈａｔ ｇｕｙ'ｓ ｃｌｏｓｅｔ! Ｃｈｅｃｋ ｉｔ ｏｕｔ! Ｐｒｅｔｔｙ ｃｏｏｌ ｈｕｈ? ＶｅｓｔＫｉｎｇ ｉｓ ＢｅｓｔＫｉｎｇ!" He says animatedly.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle a bit at his enthusiasm.

"Yes King it does look really cool on you. VestKing is indeed BestKing."

Ruby feels a little better now.

**What's that thing on King's head?**

Ruby didn't notice it before, but it seems something is protruding out from the top of King's head.

King raises a hand and touches the protrusions atop his head, he chuckles nervously. "Ａｈ, ｙｅａｈ...Ｉｔ'ｓ...ｎｏｔ ｇｒｅａｔ. Ｋｉｎｄ ｏｆ ｈｕｒｔｓ. Ｙｏｕ ｃａｎ ｔｏｕｃｈ ｉｔ...ｂｕｔ ｐｌｅａｓｅ ｂｅ ｃａｒｅｆｕｌ." He bends down to Ruby's height so that she can examine it closer.

A horn-like growth has appeared- cracking King's head. It's very hard and sharp.

**Ask everyone what the best course of action is.**

**Either try to open the safe or go back to the classrooms.**

"Sounds like we're not getting the safe open, might as well move on." Velvet states.

"I don't want to fight the cabinet again..." 3D says, looking at her charred spikes.

"Classrooms, ASAP. No use lingering." Blake says.

When Ruby looks at Ren he doesn't speak, so she moves on to the next person.

"Ｉ ｇｕａｒａｎｔｅｅ ｙｏｕ, ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｎｏｔ ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ ｔｈｅ ｓａｆｅ ｏｐｅｎ, ｓｏ ｍｉｇｈｔ ａｓ ｗｅｌｌ ｍｏｖｅ ｏｎ." King suggests.

"...Let's leave." Professor Goodwitch says.

As the group heads towards the classrooms 3D grabs Ruby's hand. Ruby looked at her curiously but doesn't dwell on it. She notices 3D also holds Blake's hand as they file out into the hall.

* * *

**A/N: That odd horn thingy coming outta King's head seems rather ominous, don'cha think? Wonder why it's making an appearance now.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	28. Hey Buddy

**A/N: There was this crazy storm where I'm at that knocked over a tree, landed on some cables 'n stuff. Had no power for a while, then it took a while to get the internet back up and running. Fun times.**

* * *

Upon arriving at the hallway where the classrooms are at they stop at the sight of blood on the walls and floors. The hallway is long, and the lights at the end have gone out. Ruby can make out two glowing crimson eyes peering at them through the darkness.

Ruby sees a familiar face. Sitting on the floor with its arms crossed over its knees is Back Rank Knight. Otherwise known as the entity that took Weiss away. Ruby feels extremely uneasy. She feels just a hint of phantom pain in her chest when remembering what happened last time.

**Tell everyone that's the entity that took Weiss.**

"...So this is the one." Blake glares at it while giving Ruby a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Yeah...you know, it never really hit me before, but...If it wasn't for Blake and Ren...this thing would have killed me." Ruby was somewhat dazed at the fact that she could've been dead already.

**Have 3D ask the entity who he is.**

**Ask it if it would be so kind to let them pass.**

"You're up 3D." Ruby nervously pulls 3D forward and gives her a small shove towards BRK.

She approaches him slowly while talking to him cautiously. "Ｈｅｙ ｂｕｄｄｙ. Ｈｅｙ. Ｂｕｄｄｙ, ｂｕｄｄｙ..." She does a small wave at the creature. "Ｗｈａｔ'ｓ ｙｏｕｒ ｎａｍｅ?"

It doesn't answer, just stares at her in silence.

"Ｏｋ...Ｗｈａｔ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｄｏｉｎｇ ｈｅｒｅ?"

The silence and its stare seem to intensify, as it still remains mute.

"Ｏ- Ｏｋ... Ｃａｎ ｙｏｕ ｌｅｔ ｕｓ ｉｎ?" 3D asks innocently enough.

At this question its eyes flare a bright red. Out of nowhere a flurry of slashes can be heard cutting through the air around 3D.

One of the strikes manages to cut down across 3D's right eye and her still raised hand.

"Ｄｕｄｅ..." Blood spurts forth from the inflicted wounds and 3D falls to her knees. Her hand falls upon the ground, having been completely severed off. "Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｆｅｅｌ ｓｕｐｅｒ ａｗｅｓｏｍｅ..." 3D slumps onto the ground.

Ruby is speechless and far too frightened to move to be able to help 3D. Luckily for her, professor Goodwitch was already making a move.

The professor stepped forward and summoned a large purple glyph that blocked the next wave of BRK's onslaught. However the shield was soon starting to crack, making the professor grimace. She then picked up 3D by the scruff of her jacket collar with one arm and tossed her at King with unbelievable speed. King reacted fast enough and caught her just fine. Before Goodwitch could make any other move the glyph shield shattered and BRK's attacks broke through. Ruby saw blood splatter onto the ground before she heard the professor's voice, though it sounded rather odd.

"Ｗｈａｔ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｗａｉｔｉｎｇ ｆｏｒ? Ｌｅｔ'ｓ ｇｏ!"

The party escapes from any further damage. Ruby officially dubs that hall as "the worst hallway ever".

**Ask Glynda about the extent of her injury.**

After a moment to catch her breath Ruby takes a look at her professor. There are large gashes on her upper arm that are bleeding profusely. Glynda catches her gaze.

"I'll live, but I do think some first aid is in order." She grimaces as she holds a hand near her wound.

As Ruby approaches with the first aid kit Goodwitch stops her.

"Not you. Don't touch my blood." Ruby stops in her tracks. "None of us know what happens when someone turns back into a person. I am not taking any risks. I recommend we treat my blood as infected until we know for sure. As such, I ask you all to be very careful, and I as King to please assist me in caring for this injury."

King sets down 3D, propping her against a wall, before walking over to Glynda. "Ｉ ｗｉｌｌ ｄｏ ｍｙ ｂｅｓｔ!"

He has Ruby hold open the aid kit while he grabs the essential items. Meanwhile, the professor removes her cape and unclasps the pin at her shirt collar. She takes off half of her shirt to reveal the bare wound. It's not a pretty sight.

As King cleans the wound he begins to scold the professor.

"Ｇｌｙｎｄａ ｔｈａｔ ｗａｓ ｖｅｒｙ ｒａｓｈ-"

"I know-"

"Ａｎｄ ａｌｓｏ ｖｅｒｙ ｄａｎｇｅｒｏｕｓ-"

"-Yes, but-"

"Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｙｏｕ ｄｉｄ ａ ｇｏｏｄ ｔｈｉｎｇ, ｂｕｔ ｙｏｕ ｈａｖｅ ｇｏｔ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｃａｒｅｆｕｌ ａｓ ｗｅｌｌ-"

"Oz, if you-"

Both of their eyes widen in surprise upon realizing what Glynda said.

"...I'm sorry." Glynda looks away nervously.

"Ｓｏ ａｍ Ｉ." King looks away sadly. "Ｉ'ｌｌ ｊｕｓｔ...ｇｅｔ ｔｈｉｓ ｄｏｎｅ."

After wrapping bandages on her arm, Glynda puts her attire back in place.

"...Now that's done...How is 3D doing?" She asks Blake who has been crouched near 3D the entire time, silently watching over her. She doesn't reply immediately to Glynda's question.

"She seems to be healing actually." Ren pipes in when Blake doesn't speak.

"Yeah." Blake says quietly. "...even the bullet wound has healed." Blake points out.

"And her hand- it didn't grow back, but the wound closed." Ren mentioned.

Ruby looked down at 3D's body. At the body of her sister. She was bloodied, and wounded, and missing her right hand. All because of her. All because she was afraid. None of this would've happened if she didn't let her fears overcome her. Nobody would've gotten hurt if she had thought things through with a clear head. Ruby closed her eyes out of frustration.

She wants to stop messing everything up.

Suddenly, 3D opens her good eye and looks straight at Ruby. Almost as if she had sensed her distress. "Ｂｕｄｄｙ!" She gives her a big grin. "Ｂｕｄｄｙ, ｂｕｄｄｙ. Ｈｅｙ! Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｂｅ ｓａｄ, ｂｕｄｄｙ!"

Ruby looks at her incredulously. "You're not mad at me? But...it was my fault that this-" 3D cut her off.

"Ｂｕｄｄｙ. Ｎｏ, ｄｕｄｅ. Ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｍｙ ｃｈｏｉｃｅ. Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｌｅｇｓ. Ｉ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｈａｖｅ ｔｕｒｎｅｄ ａｒｏｕｎｄ ａｎｙ ｔｉｍｅ. Ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｍｙ ｃｈｏｉｃｅ. Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ａ ｖｏｉｃｅ. Ｉ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｈａｖｅ ｓａｉｄ ｎｏ. Ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ. Ｉ ｇａｖｅ ｉｔ ａ ｓｈｏｔ. Ｔｈｉｓ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｓｏ ｂａｄ. Ｙｏｕ ｊｕｓｔ ｇｏｔｔａ ｔｒｙ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｏｐｔｉｍｉｓｔｉｃ! Ｈｏｌｄ ｙｏｕｒ ｈｅａｄ ｕｐ ｈｉｇｈ! Ｓｏ ｗｈａｔ ｉｆ Ｉ ｌｏｓｔ ａ ｈａｎｄ? Ｉｔ'ｓ ｎｏｔ ｃｏｍｉｎｇ ｂａｃｋ! Ｎｏ ｕｓｅ ｃｒｙｉｎｇ ａｂｏｕｔ ｉｔ ｎｏｗ! Ｒｉｇｈｔ?" 3D reassured her with a smile.

"But why do it?" Ruby just didn't understand how 3D could remain so confident, even after losing a hand.

"Ｙｏｕ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｋｎｏｗ ｔｈｉｓ ｂｙ ｎｏｗ." 3D raised her only hand and gave a thumbs up, beaming a huge smile. "Ｉ ｄｉｄ ｉｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ."

* * *

**A/N: 3D is always so optimistic, it's a good thing to have her in the group. Everyone else seems so depressed and ready to give up most of the time. Good thing she didn't die, right? Optimism train has left the station, chugga wugga, all aboard! Choo choo.**


	29. Fallen Royalty

**A/N: Sooooo... 3D lost a hand and Glynda got hurt pretty bad. Things aren't looking up for the gang. But ya gotta stay optimistic! Don't be such a downer.**

* * *

**Relocate to the office for now.**

**A team nap is definitely in order.**

They make it back safely without encountering any other trouble.

"Ok team! Rest time! Especially for 3D and professor Goodwitch."

"Ａｇｒｅｅｄ." King says. He's supports the two women as they are now staggering about, clearly exhausted. "Ｉ ｓｕｇｇｅｓｔ 3Ｄ ａｎｄ Ｇｌｙｎｄａ ｇｅｔ ｔｈｅ ｂｅｄ. Ｉｔ'ｓ ｂｉｇ ｅｎｏｕｇｈ ｆｏｒ ｔｗｏ. Ａｎｙｏｎｅ ｅｌｓｅ ｔｈａｔ ｃａｎ ｃｏｍｆｏｒｔａｂｌｙ ｆｉｔ ｉｓ ｗｅｌｃｏｍｅ ｔｏ ｇｅｔ ｉｎ, ｂｕｔ ｔｈｏｓｅ ｔｗｏ ａｒｅ ｐｒｉｏｒｉｔｙ! Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｗｈａｔ Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ."

"Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Try to get some rest you two!" Ruby says.

"Ok I will give it a shot, but I am getting a glass of water first." Glynda says tiredly.

3D is slumped over on her shoulder, looking completely wiped out. "Ｉ ａｍ ａｓｌｅｅｐ."

Ruby smiles lightly and goes over to take 3D off of the professor, she leads 3D to the bedroom.

"Ok 3D time for bed-"

"Ｉ'ｍ ａｓｌｅｅｐ."

"Uh, no."

Once she got 3D settled Blake approaches her.

"Hey Ruby if we're resting in shifts again, can I not be first? I'm pretty beat."

"Yeah. I'll take the first watch."

Velvet approaches Ruby next. "Don't over-do it, Ruby! I'll do it, you rest. I'll switch with you later."

"Ah, thanks."

While Velvet sits out in the office to keep watch, everyone else rests in the bedroom.

Ruby sits against a wall near a window. She has some difficulty sleeping, somewhat fearful of having another dream about WQ. She looks at the others in the room.

Blake slept sitting up against the bed. One of her arms resting across her knees while the other was raised up and holding 3D's hand. The sight made Ruby smile. It was nice seeing the two finally getting along.

Ren had lain on the bed with the other two. Curling in on himself to conserve space. At her angle on the floor he looked like he was covering his face and crying. But she could tell he was resting by the slow rise and fall of his body.

King remained awake next to her, looking out the window above her. Eventually slumber overcame her, and when she awoke to switch shifts with Velvet she realized she didn't dream.

Ruby sits at the Headmaster's desk, resting her head on her arms. She wasn't on watch for long before professor Goodwitch comes in. "Professor! Shouldn't you be sleeping? You had a rough day...to put it lightly."

"We all did...and I appreciate your concern, but sleep...doesn't come easy. I...slept all I could." She said with a tired smile.

"Huh, why's that?"

"Well- without going into too much detail: I did some things I'm not proud of, and now I must live with the consequences."

**Ask Glynda about that ring on her left hand.**

Ruby looked down in thought, when a small green glow on the professor's hand caught her eye. "Professor, where did you get that ring?"

"Huh? Oh- this old thing?" She lifts her hand up into plain view. "I guess it's about time I got rid of it. Hah...It has probably already crossed your mind- It is as it seems. This is an engagement ring...Honestly, I don't even know why I still wear it. Habit, I suppose. It's not like it's any good now." She says solemnly.

"Professor..."

"-Just Glynda is fine. Ruby, I'll take over. Go rest. You need it."

"So do you..."

"...Please."

Ruby takes the hint. Glynda wants to be alone.

When Ruby leaves the room Glynda gazes around and sighs.

_"I miss her."_

Glynda sits in the chair, raising her hands near her face as she cries.

Meanwhile on the other side of the door Ruby presses close to it and can hear Glynda crying. Ruby notices King is still awake. She decides to get some answers from him. King becomes aware of her presence as she approaches, looking at her curiously.

"King? If it's not a bother, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions." She says politely.

"Ｓｕｒｅ. Ｆｉｒｅ ａｗａｙ."

"Okay. Well, how did you come to exist? I mean, if you were originally Ozpin what happened to make you who you are now? The same goes for Glynda. Whose blood made you both change?"

King looks at her somberly. "Ｓｏ, ｙｏｕ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｋｎｏｗ ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈａｔ, ｈｕｈ?" King sighs as he turns around. He fiddles with his scarf a bit. "Ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｎｏｔ ａｎｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｏｒｄｉｎａｒｙ. Ｂｙ ｎｏ ｍｅａｎｓ ｗｅｒｅ ｔｈｅｙ ｓｐｅｃｉａｌ. Ａ ｂａｔｔｌｅ ｌｉｋｅ ａｎｙ ｏｔｈｅｒ. Ａ ｒｅｇｕｌａｒ ｂａｓｉｃ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ. Ｓｐｉｔｔｅｒ. Ｐｅｒｆｅｃｔ ｓｉｄｅｓｔｅｐ ｂｙ Ｇｌｙｎｄａ. Ａ ｓｌｉｇｈｔｌｙ ｃａｒｅｌｅｓｓ ｄｏｄｇｅ ｂｙ ｍｅ. Ａ ｂａｄ ｌｅｇ. Ｇｌｙｎｄａ ｃａｒｒｙｉｎｇ ｔｈｅ ｔｅａｍ ａｓ ｕｓｕａｌ- ａ ｍｏｍｅｎｔ ｔｏｏ ｓｌｏｗ. Ｔｈｅ ｓｐｉｔｔｅｒ'ｓ ｂｌｏｏｄ ｇｏｔ ｏｎ ｈｅｒ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ ｓｈｅ ｈａｄ ａ ｃｈａｎｃｅ ｔｏ ｒｅａｃｔ. Ｉ'ｍ ｎｏｔ ｓｕｒｅ ｗｈａｔ ｈａｐｐｅｎｅｄ ａｆｔｅｒ ｔｈａｔ. Ｎｅｘｔ ｔｈｉｎｇ Ｉ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ, ｉｔ'ｓ ｄｅａｄ. Ｔｈｅｙ ｉｍｍｅｄｉａｔｅｌｙ ｇｏｔ ｔｈｅ ｂｌｏｏｄ ｏｆｆ, ｈｏｐｉｎｇ ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｂｅｓｔ, ｂｕｔ ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｎｏ ｕｓｅ. Ｓｈｅ ｔｕｒｎｅｄ, ａｎｄ ｍｅ ｒｉｇｈｔ ａｆｔｅｒ." King reminisced, his eye seeming as if he was looking at some faraway place. "...Ｆｕｎｎｙ ｈｏｗ ａ ｓｉｎｇｌｅ ｗｒｏｎｇ ｍｏｖｅ ｃａｎ ｃｏｓｔ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ."

**Tell King to check on Glynda.**

Ruby tells King how she heard Glynda crying in the other room. Since she doesn't seem to want Ruby there, she tells King to go see how Glynda is doing and he obliges. Time passes. Ruby has a nap.

Nothing remarkable happens.

* * *

**A/N: Everything about Glynda's and King's/Ozpin's pasts always seem super salty. Spitters don't seem too great. Let's hope the gang never run into one.**

**Thank you for reading!**


	30. Ember Celiclaw

**A/N: The most ridiculous and impossible is done in this chapter, but it's cool right? Something that started as a joke became reality. Isn't that great.**

* * *

**Ask 3D if she can regenerate her arm.**

When everyone is awake Ruby looks at 3D's missing hand. Considering her regenerative capabilities, she asks 3D if she's able to grow her hand back.

"Ｇｒｏｗ ｉｔ ｂａｃｋ? Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｒｉｄｉｃｕｌｏｕｓ. Ｉ'ｍ ｎｏ ｍａｇｉｃｉａｎ. Ｉｔ'ｓ ｇｏｎｅ."

Well, now that everyone is well rested Ruby thinks it's time to confront BRK once more.

She kicks open the bedroom door and prepares to leave. "Alright everyone! Time to check out the BRK situation."

She sees that King and Glynda are still in the room, both of them are still awake. They're playing some sort of card game actually. From the sounds of it, Glynda is winning.

"Are you ready for this card King?" Glynda says confidently.

"Ｎ- Ｎｏ." He says nervously.

Once the group gathers together they head out the Office. Ruby loops an arm around 3D's stump arm, while Blake holds her hand once again. Time to return to the worst hallway ever.

When they enter the long dark hallway Ruby sees that BRK is still sitting at the far end. It never moved.

3D is first to make an action.

"Ｈｅｙ ｂｕｄｄｙ." She says menacingly. "Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｉｍｅ ｗｅ ｈａｄ ａ ｒｅｍａｔｃｈ." She has a sinister smile. 3D actually opens her wounded eye, but all Ruby sees in it is static. She'll have to ask about that later.

**Give 3D the flashlight.**

**BRK is weak to light.**

Ruby was really getting annoyed by these random pointless thoughts intruding in her mind.

"There's a great idea! If we HAD one." She thought in a sarcastic manner.

Ruby was ready this time to face Back Rank Knight. With determined silver eyes, she stared down BRK. This time she wouldn't let fear take the best of her. This time no one else will get hurt. She had a strategy that would ensure that.

**Let's get tactical!**

**Have King, Ren, and Velvet stay back.**

**They have no range weapons at the moment.**

**Have Blake and 3D ready their weapons for long range.**

**Glynda should be ready to put up another glyph shield, just in case.**

**DO NOT engage BRK at close range.**

**It's time for BRK to eat bullets.**

As Ruby gave out her orders, everyone got into their respective positions. Blake, 3D and herself formed a line in front, while Glynda stood a little ways beside them. King held the other two close to him.

Ruby swung Crescent Rose around her as it unfurled into its scythe mode. She dug the sharp blade into the floor as she steadied her aim at BRK. Beside her Blake aimed Gambol Shroud in pistol form, and 3D activated Ember Celica with a click.

During all this BRK remained motionless. It simply sat there and stared at them.

"Everyone ready?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah." Blake replied.

"Ready." Glynda said.

Then they filled BRK with lead.

It stood up abruptly as the shooting began, but before it could really do anything the damage had been done. BRK wobbled in place for a bit before falling over onto the floor unceremoniously. BRK was dead.

Everyone put their weapons away and relaxed a bit. That seemed a lot simpler than Ruby had expected. BRK seemed so powerful once provoked, but now it was so pathetic.

3D had a delighted look on her face at the immobile entity lying on the floor. She walked over to it and gave it a strong kick in its head.

"Ｎｙｅｈ." She stuck her tongue out at it a bit childishly.

She then moved over to where her severed hand still lay. She picked it up and looked at it sadly. Ruby was about to say something sympathetic until 3D looked up with a smile.

"Ｈｅｙ ｂｕｄｄｉｅｓ! Ｎｅｅｄ ａ ｈａｎｄ?"

Everyone gave a collective groan at the pun.

"Well, guess some things really didn't change." Ruby thought with a smile.

**Ask 3D if she can reattach her hand.**

Ruby still felt terrible about 3D losing her hand, once again asking if there was any way to salvage it. Maybe she could reattach it?

3D looked at her in amusement, holding the hand over the severed stump of her arm. "Ｙｏｕ ｓｔｉｌｌ ｆａｎｃｙ ｍｅ ｓｏｍｅ ｓｏｒｔ ｏｆ ｍａｇｉｃｉａｎ? Ｇｅｔ ｏｖｅｒ ｉｔ, ｄｕｄｅ. Ｔｈｅ ｈａｎｄ ｉｓ ｄｅａｄ ａｎｄ ｇｏｎｅ."

**Hey you're good at engineering.**

**Fashion 3D a robo hand.**

**Use Ember Celica to make a hand.**

**Construct EMBER CELICLAW!**

Ruby informs 3D that she may be able to create a new hand for her using Ember Celica on the severed hand. "It'll be hype." She tells her.

3D looks at her incredulously. "Ｒｕｂｙ...Ｔｈａｔ ｓｏｕｎｄｓ..." Then her face lights up with unbridled mirth. "Ｆｕｋｅｎ ａｗｅｓｏｍｅ!"

**[Distant sounds of vaguely defined engineering]**

3D looks at her new hand in awe. Though it did look crude, it worked perfectly fine. The rest of the group didn't quite share 3D's delight.

"That's just illogical." Ren stated.

"No comment." Velvet said.

"How did that just happen?" Blake asked, very much confused.

"I've seen worse, 7/10." Glynda said with a hand to her chin in thought.

"At least you can always depend on me for implausible gadgets." Ruby said proudly, and with a whisper to Glynda, "Only 7/10 though?"

3D experimented with her new hand a bit, finding that she could even create a fiery aspect to the weapon. Engulfing the hand with a powerful inferno for an effective punch. "Ｙａｙ."

**Incredible engineering feats aside...**

**Room 21 seems interesting and all, but how 'bout 20?**

**All the blood in this hallway seems to come from there.**

**It almost looks like someone was dragged out of it.**

Ruby looks at the door to room 20 a bit distressed. This door doesn't look great, it's kind of...foreboding. But, you know. Gotta have a look anyway.

Slowly approaching the door, Ruby cautiously creaks it open. "Hello? Anyone in here?" Upon opening the door completely, she found that she wouldn't receive an answer.

Inside this classroom several students' corpses were strewn about the room. The floor was completely covered in blood. Ruby recognized these students; some she shared classes with and others she passed by in hallways. Of course, that was before this nightmare happened.


	31. Team Spike Arms

**A/N: Ya get a dose of sad stuff then silly stuff. Does that balance out nicely for ya? I don't know what the Quest would be like without 3D, but it would surely be boring, and less optimistic.**

* * *

Ruby remains speechless as she looks upon the corpses of fallen students.

**Loot all the bodies.**

**Remind yourselves it's for a good cause.**

**Think of it like taking gear from fallen brethren in battle.**

"…"

Ruby goes over to each of the bodies, collecting a single item from each one.

"I'm sorry…"

She takes some bandages from the corpse of a girl.

"I'm sorry."

She continues as she takes a lighter from a boy.

"Sorry. I'm sORRY."

She takes a hat from another boy, her voice choking on a silent sob.

"…SORRY, I'M SO SORRY."

She gently removes a flower from a girl's hair.

"SORRY, SORRY, SORRY."

She finds a clean cloth on the last one.

Ruby takes them all. Since she doesn't have room for all of them, she distributes the items accordingly to her group. She gives Glynda the flower, Velvet the cloth, and puts the bandages into the first aid kit. Ruby holds onto the hat and lighter. Ruby's inventory is now full.

**Look around the room for clues.**

Ruby looks at all the bodies once more, tears spilling from her eyes.

"We need to find out what happened here." She hiccups as she says this. "S-Sorry It's just…" Ruby clenches her eyes shut, unable to look at them for the moment. Her body shivers and trembles as she attempts to keep in her sobs.

"Don't apologize…" Glynda says to her, the sound of her footsteps approach next to her. "This kind of thing- it's not the same as killing soulless Grimm." She said sympathetically.

"I know that." Ruby speaks over a sob. "I'm sorry. I should be stronger than this." She clenches a hand into a fist, squeezing as hard as she can, hoping the pain of her nails digging into skin will distract her from feeling so pathetic.

"Ruby…crying doesn't mean you're weak. From birth, it has been a sign that you are alive." Glynda told her with such conviction that Ruby found herself believing it herself. The trembling in her body lessened.

"…I guess…" Ruby felt utterly exhausted from all this emotional frustration.

"And besides…" Glynda placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, gently turning Ruby around to face the others. "You aren't alone in this."

Ruby can see her friends looking exhausted as well. Blake and Velvet had tears brimming their eyes as they looked at Ruby with empathy. When she looked into Ren's eyes she noticed something seemed a bit odd about them, but perhaps that was just her tears blurring her vision and playing tricks on her.

Ruby brushed away the tears on her sleeve and gave them all a reassuring smile. "You're right, I'm not alone. Together we can make it through this. Sorry about that everyone."

Ruby now grinned at them. Blake and Velvet approached her, the rabbit Faunus giving her a hug while Blake patted her on the shoulder. Ren give her a tired smile, but Ruby could feel the support he gave through it.

"Ｂｕｄｄｙ, ｂｕｄｄｙ, ｂｕｄｄｙ, ｂｕｄｄｙ!" 3D said to gain their attention.

3D was on her knees in a pool of mostly dried blood, pointing down at it. King was crouched nearby, looking at the area with her. That small protrusion he had in his head had grown much longer at this point, and it seems that another one had already begun to sprout.

"Ｔｈｅ ｍｙｓｔｅｒｙ ｈａｓ ｂｅｅｎ ｓｏｌｖｅｄ!" She said cheerily.

The two entities stood up, King speaking next.

"Ｊｕｄｇｉｎｇ ｂｙ ｔｈｅ ｉｎｊｕｒｉｅｓ, ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｈｅ ｓａｆｅ ｔｏ ａｓｓｕｍｅ ｔｈｅｓｅ ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ ｗｅｒｅ ｋｉｌｌｅｄ ｂｙ Ｂａｃｋ Ｒａｎｋ Ｋｎｉｇｈｔ."

"-ｈａｌｌｗａｙ ｄｏｕｃｈｅｂａｇ." 3D piped in.

"Ｔｈａｔ ｏｎｅ, ｙｅｓ." King nodded as 3D continued.

"Ｉｎｔｅｒｅｓｔｉｎｇｌｙ ｅｎｏｕｇｈ, ｔｈｅ ｓｃｅｎｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｃｒｉｍｅ ｓｈｏｗｓ ｃｌｅａｒ ｅｖｉｄｅｎｃｅ ｔｈａｔ ａ ｓｉｘｔｈ ｍｕｒｄｅｒ ｔｏｏｋ ｐｌａｃｅ! Ｂｕｔ ｏｎｌｙ ｆｉｖｅ ｂｏｄｉｅｓ? Ｃａｎ'ｔ ｅｘｐｌａｉｎ ｔｈａｔ!" 3D paused for a moment before speaking again. "...Ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ, Ｉ ｃａｎ."

"Ａ ｓｉｘｔｈ ｐｅｒｓｏｎ ｄｉｅｄ ｈｅｒｅ, ｙｅｓ-" King started.

"-ｂｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｂｏｄｙ ｈａｓ ｂｅｅｎ ｍｏｖｅｄ!" 3D finished.

"Ｔｈｅ ｂｌｏｏｄ ｔｒａｉｌ ｃｏｎｆｉｒｍｓ!" King exclaimed.

Ｔｈｅ ｓｉｘｔｈ ｂｏｄｙ ｉｓ ｎｏｗ ｉｎ ｃｌａｓｓｒｏｏｍ 21!" 3D said excitedly.

The two entities were quite proud of their deductions. They raised their arms up together and touched their spikes.

"Ｓｐｉｋｅ ｂｕｍｐ!" King said.

"Ｙｅ!" 3D said with a grin.

Ruby looks at the two with a smile, before turning around and heading for the door. She peeks around the doorway nervously, looking at classroom 21.

"So I guess the next thing to do is to go to 21…"

Ruby looks at the door warily. She's a bit scared to find out what's on the other side of it. 3D trails behind her, and upon seeing her hesitance she cups a hand over her mouth to whisper into Ruby's ear.

"Into the mouth of madness…"

Well, that was reassuring.


	32. Melted Gold

**A/N: Some salty salt before we go into the mouth of madness. The train to the salt mines never stops.**

* * *

Ruby felt she wouldn't mind doing something else for a bit before going to room 21…she's still reeling from room 20.

**Before moving forward, examine Ren's eyes.**

**They look grey.**

Ruby gives her group a look-over. When she sees Ren rubbing at his eyes she moves over to him curiously.

"Hey Ren, something up with your eyes?" She asks.

He stops rubbing at them to look at her blearily, then points at them. "They're kind of…itchy."

Ruby looks into his eyes, seeing if there might be something in them. She notices how his eyes look kind of cloudy. There's a smoky grey color in the whites of his eyes and his pupils are a bright green instead of black. Ruby doesn't know what to make of this.

**Time for some questions for the entities.**

**What do Glynda and King know about the tiara?**

**What's up with 3D's fire ability?**

**Does 3D know how she came to be?**

**What did 3D do because she loved you?**

Ruby asks all of these questions. She receives shrugs from both Glynda and King. They're not sure why the tiara did what it did. 3D does have some answers to her questions.

"Ｆｉｒｅ ａｂｉｌｉｔｙ? Ｏｈ- ｙｏｕ ｍｅａｎ ｔｈｉｓ?" 3D lights a small flame in the palm of her hand. "Ｎｏ ｂｉｇ ｔｈｉｎｇ. Ａｌｗａｙｓ ｂｅｅｎ ａｂｌｅ ｔｏ ｄｏ ｉｔ. Ｐｒｅｔｔｙ ｃｏｏｌ ｈｕｈ."

She then extinguishes the flame, then puts a hand on her chin in contemplation. "Ｈｏｗ Ｉ ｃａｍｅ ｔｏ ｂｅ? Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｑｕｉｔｅ ｋｎｏｗ...ｍｅｍｏｒｙ'ｓ ｕｎｃｌｅａｒ." She furrowed her brows in thought. "Ｉ ｈａｖｅ...ｆｒａｇｍｅｎｔｓ, ｂｕｔ ｎｏｔ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ...Ｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｗｈａｔ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ..."

* * *

_Yang trudges down a hall, exhausted, battered, and bloody. _

_She puts a hand against the wall for support, smearing a bloody handprint along the way. Her breathing is haggard and rapid, blood trickles from her mouth. _

_Her tired legs give in to her weight and she falls to the floor on her hands and knees. She begins to cough violently, and covers her mouth with a hand to stifle it, only to find herself catching her own blood. _

_She could feel her teeth growing sharp against her palm, when she moves her hand away she feels a sharp pain in her arms. She doesn't have to look at them to know that there are spikes are growing along the length of them, blood accompanying their growth. _

_"GET OUT."_

_She takes her right hand and it wavers over to her other arm. She hovers her hand over the spikes. _

_"GET OUT."_

_She places her hand on the uppermost spike and grips it tightly._

_"GET OUT OF ME!"_

_She rips the spike from her arm without even flinching, her determination to get whatever it is inside of her out, overshadowing the pain._

_At that moment she felt a surge inside her body coming forth. With wide eyes she quickly clamps a hand over her mouth to stop it out of pure reflex. However, she can't keep the burning sensation in her throat forever._

_ There's too much of it to contain, and lava spurts out between the spaces of her fingers. Unable to bear the pain of the immolation, she falls forward and vomits the fiery liquid onto the floor, wanting it out, for the burning to just stop, but it never ends. _

_Tears stream down her face as she realizes that no matter how strong she tries to be, there's no way to stop the inevitable._

_"Ruby, Blake, Weiss-" She says her comrades names with tears in her eyes._

_"Where a__ｒｅ_ _ｙｏｕ__-?" She can feel herself slipping away as her voice mingles with one that's not her own._

_By then it consumes her._

* * *

3D holds her arm and looks sadly at Ruby.

"…Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ａｌｌ Ｉ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ..."


	33. Meeting The Queen

**A/N: I think it's about time we stop dilly-dallying and go to classroom 21. Get hype.**

* * *

**Put on the hat.**

**Head into the mouth of madness.**

Ruby takes the hat she acquired and puts it on, a determined look in her eyes. "Time to go." She informs the others.

As they make their way out into the hall and towards the door, Ruby no longer feels as hesitant to see what's on the other side of room 21. Turning the handle she pushes open the door. It creaks a bit as she fully opens it, and in the room she sees a familiar figure with dark skin and pale blonde hair, along with the sixth corpse laying nearby. The figure has their back to them and doesn't seem to acknowledge them at the moment. 3D pops up behind her and recognizes the figure as well.

"Ｗｈｏａ, ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｈｅ Ｑｕｅｅｎ. Ｇｅｔ ｈｙｐｅ." She says jovially.

Upon 3D's statement WQ stands and turns to face them. She's wearing the same attire and mask like the last time Ruby saw her in the dream. Ruby shifts nervously at the idea of meeting WQ face to face in reality, rather than in a dream. 3D pats her shoulder reassuringly and keeps it there, grinning at WQ all the while.

Ruby sees that WQ has multiple, small cuts all over her arms and neck as she reaches up to remove the mask. Discarding it on the floor, she gives them a toothy smile as she greets them, despite the gruesome sight of the horns grown into her eyes, she appears quite friendly now.

"Ｈｉ ｇｕｙｓ!"

**Take a look at the body on the floor.**

Not sure of what to say, and a bit intimidated by WQ's appearance, Ruby gazes at the body on the floor. Upon close inspection, Ruby can see bite marks. Distressed by this, she looks worriedly at WQ again, who simply waves and continues smiling at her.

**Wave a hand in front of WQ's face to see if she can see.**

Curiously Ruby approaches her, propelled by her thought. Standing directly in front of an unmoving WQ, she waves her hand over her face a few times. Suddenly WQ grabs her wrist forcefully clenching at the sleeve, making her stop the motion.

"Ｒｕｂｙ—Ｒｕｂｙ ｎｏ. Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｄｉｓｒｅｓｐｅｃｔｆｕｌ." She then releases hold of her wrist slowly, carefully. "Ｊｕｓｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ'ｍ ｂｌｉｎｄ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｍｅａｎ Ｉ ｃａｎ'ｔ ｓｅｅ."

Ruby can tell she made WQ angry due to the slight trembling through her body, and of course the wrath in her tone.

"Ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｐｒｅｔｔｙ ｍｕｃｈ ｅｘａｃｔｌｙ ｗｈａｔ ｂｅｉｎｇ ｂｌｉｎｄ ｍｅａｎｓ-" King was beginning to explain before WQ cut him off.

She had a hand on her hip as she looked at him condescendingly. "Ｈｅｙ Ｋｉｎｇ, ｈｏｗ ａｂｏｕｔ ｙｏｕ ＳＨＵＴ ＵＰ."

Ruby looked between the two nervously.

"Ｉ'ｍ ｊｕｓｔ ｓａｙｉｎｇ." King sighed.

**Politely greet WQ.**

**Ask permission to hug her.**

**Weiss might be somewhere deep in there.**

Ruby raises her arms in a gesture of surrender as she approaches WQ once more. "Hello. Sorry for disrespecting you. How about a hug...?"

Before any such thing could be initiated WQ grabs both of her raised hands by the wrists, firmly gripping around the material of Ruby's sleeve, stopping her in her tracks.

"Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔｏｕｃｈ ｍｅ, ｙｏｕ ｂａｓｔａｒｄ."

Ruby flinches at her tone and apologizes quickly. "S-Sorry."

Seeming satisfied with this, WQ releases her hold and steps back. "Ｓｏ ａｎｙｗａｙ, ｗｈａｔｙａ ｗａｎｔ?" She says in disinterest while twisting her pinky in her left ear offhandedly. "Ｉ'ｍ ｂｕｓｙ ｙ'ｋｎｏｗ. Ｂｅｉｎ' Ｑｕｅｅｎ 'ｎ ａｌｌ."

Before Ruby could bother to think up something, 3D pops up near WQ suddenly.

"Ｑｕｅｅｎ! Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ!" She says reverently.

WQ turns to the entity and gives her a halfhearted smile as she puts a hand on 3D's face to stop any further approach.

"Ｎｏｔ ｎｏｗ 3Ｄ."

"Ｉ ｓｔｉｌｌ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｏｕｇｈ!" 3D says giddily.

"Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｏｏ."

"Ａａａａ ｓｈｅ'ｓ ｔｏｕｃｈｉｎｇ ｍｅ!" 3D said excitedly before scampering off towards the rest of the group.

WQ calmly turns to face Ruby again, clasping her hands together. "Ｓｏ ｙｅａｈ. Ｔｈｅｒｅ ｍｕｓｔ ｂｅ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｙｏｕ ｗａｎｔ, ｓｏ ｕｈ, ｌａｙ ｉｔ ｏｎ ｍｅ."


	34. Reset Button

**A/N: This will be the last one for a while. For some reason tumblr pages won't load properly, so I can't view certain updates. It's really lame :V. Also I'm going on a vacation, so this'll be sorta like a hiatus too, I guess.**

* * *

**Ask her why Glynda turned back to a human from the tiara.**

**And why are Ren's eyes starting to look murky.**

WQ raises a tightly clenched fist as she answers the first question in spite.

"Ｗｈｏ ｋｎｏｗｓ. Ｐｒｏｂａｂｌｙ ｈａｓ ｔｏ ｄｏ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ ｕｎｐｒｏｖｏｋｅｄ ｍｕｒｄｅｒ ｏｆ ｔｈｏｓｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ. Ｇｏｏｄ ｊｏｂ ｂｙ ｔｈｅ ｗａｙ." She spat angrily at the group. "Ｒｅｎ ｉｓ ｐｒｏｂａｂｌｙ ｆｕｃｋｅｄ." She answers to the second question.

She directs her attention toward Glynda when she speaks next.

"Ｐｒｏｆｅｓｓｏｒ, ｈｏｗ ｄｏｅｓ ｉｔ ｆｅｅｌ? Ｋｎｏｗｉｎｇ ｙｏｕｒ ｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅ ｃｏｓｔ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈａｔ?" She inquired patronizingly.

Glynda smirks at her, appearing unfazed by her attempts to unnerve her. "I could ask you the same, false queen." WQ seems a bit bothered at the last phrase. "Yes, I remember you, WQ." Glynda put a hand on her chin as if she were remembering something, the smirk ever present on her face. "That voice...it was you. All that time, it was you who held me under. Telling me to 'go back to sleep' and 'I will keep you safe'."

WQ's stoic demeanor left as a devious grin formed. "Ｙｏｕ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｍｅ? Ｉ'ｍ ｆｌａｔｔｅｒｅｄ."

**Ask why her horns twist into her eyes.**

**Does it irritate her sometimes?**

Ruby decided to break up the 'stare down' by asking the questions the pestering voices presented.

WQ pointed to the horns. "Ｉ ｗａｓ ｂｏｒｎ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈｉｓ." Then in a rougher tone, "Ｉｒｒｉｔａｔｅ? Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ａｎ ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｔｅｍｅｎｔ. Ｂｏｒｎ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈｉｓ, Ｉ ａｍ ｉｎ ｃｏｎｓｔａｎｔ ａｇｏｎｙ. " Ruby watched worriedly as she waited for an angry bout of words, but instead WQ's voice quieted into a somber tone. "Ｉｔ'ｓ ｏｋａｙ ｔｈｏｕｇｈ."

**Ask WQ why there are bite marks on the body.**

Relieved that WQ didn't get too angry with her again, Ruby proceeded with her next question.

WQ put her hands together in a manner meant to be affectionate, but with her explanation it just seemed eerie.

"Ｉ ｊｕｓｔ ｇｏｔ ｓｏｏｏｏ ｃｕｒｉｏｕｓ ａｂｏｕｔ ｗｈａｔ ｉｔ ｉｓ ｔｏ 'ｅａｔ'." Ruby shuddered at the thought. "Ｓｏ ｗｈｅｎ ｓｗｅｅｔ, ｐｒｅｃｉｏｕｓ Ｂａｃｋ Ｒａｎｋ Ｋｎｉｇｈｔ ｂｒｏｕｇｈｔ ｍｅ ａ ｓｎａｃｋ, Ｉ ｓｉｍｐｌｙ ｃｏｕｌｄｎ'ｔ ｈｅｌｐ ｍｙｓｅｌｆ!" Then WQ dropped the act and said with indifference. "Ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｏｋ."

**Ask WQ why she's all cut up.**

WQ lifts her arms forward. "Ｏｈ ｙｅａｈ. Ｅａｃｈ ｗｏｕｎｄ ｉｓ ａ ｒｅｓｅｔ- ａ ｌｉｆｅ ｒｅｓｅｔ!" She pulled out a pair of scissors somewhere on her being and held them up for all to see. "Ｗｉｔｈ ａ ｒｅｓｅｔ ｂｕｔｔｏｎ, ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈｉｓ, ｉｔ'ｓ ｅａｓｙ." She said it as if it was the most normal thing ever.

"Ｒｅｓｅｔｔｉｎｇ ｍｙ ｍｏｏｄ, ｍｙ ｄａｙ, ｅｖｅｎ ｍｙ ｌｉｆｅ! Ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｉｓ ｒｅｓｅｔ ｂｕｔｔｏｎ, ｗｉｔｈ ｗｏｕｎｄｓ ａｌｌ ｏｖｅｒ ｍｙ ｂｏｄｙ, Ｉ ｗｉｌｌ ｍａｋｅ ｔｏｍｏｒｒｏｗ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ." She said it with a smile, as if it were an infomercial of some sort. "Ｇｅｔ ｉｔ?"

Ruby wasn't sure what she should say, afraid that whatever she did would make WQ react negatively. When she didn't answer WQ frowned and lowered her hand slowly.

"...Ｉｔ'ｓ ｏｋ ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｄｏｎ'ｔ. Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｅｘｐｅｃｔ ｙｏｕ ｔｏ ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄ."


	35. Deletion

Ruby notices how WQ answers everything quickly, without hesitation. She seems open to answering more questions - in fact, she seems to be enjoying having someone to talk to.

**Ask WQ how she speaks to the other entities.**

WQ points at her head. "Ｉｔ ｇｏｅｓ ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ ｔｈｅ ｂｒａｉｎ, ｉｔ'ｓ ｅａｓｙ! Ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ, ｆｅｅｌｉｎｇｓ, ｅｖｅｎ ｏｒｄｅｒｓ! Ｔｈｅ Ｑｕｅｅｎ ｃｏｍｍａｎｄｓ! Ｌｉｋｅ ｓｏ-"

WQ turns toward King and 3D, gradually approaching them. "3Ｄ, Ｋｉｎｇ: ｅｘｐｏｎｅｎｔｓ 486=?"

"12,230,590,464." The two entities say in unison.

"Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ!" She pulls the two entities towards her in an awkward embrace, planting a smooch on King's head, to which he utters an "Ugh".

"Ｍｙ ｂｕｄｄｉｅｓ, ｓｏ ｃｌｅｖｅｒ!" WQ then plants a smooch atop 3D's head.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｃｕｚ ｙｏｕ ｔｏｌｄ ｕｓ ｔｈｅ ａｎｓｗｅｒ ｉｎ ｏｕｒ ｈｅａｄｓ, ｂｕｔ ｏｋ." 3D says with a smile.

**"Are you lonely WQ?"**

"Ｌｏｎｅｌｙ?" WQ says as she shoves King away but holds on to 3D. "Ａｈ- Ｎｏ. Ｎｅｖｅｒ. Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｏ ｒｅａｓｏｎ ｔｏ ｂｅ. Ｔｒａｐｐｅｄ ｉｎ ｄａｒｋｎｅｓｓ, ｂｕｔ ｄａｒｋｎｅｓｓ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｓｃａｒｙ. Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ, ａｆｔｅｒ ａｌｌ, ｗｈｅｒｅ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｓ ｌｉｖｅ. Ｓｔａｒｓ ｔｈａｔ ｌｏｖｅ ａｎｄ ｃｈｅｒｉｓｈ ｕｓ, ｈｅｒｅ ｗｉｔｈ ｕｓ, ｔｏｏ ｆａｒ ｔｏ ｔｏｕｃｈ ｂｕｔ ｇｉｖｉｎｇ ｕｓ ｈｏｐｅ, ｅｖｅｎ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｄａｒｋ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｔｈｅｙ'ｒｅ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｔｈｅｒｅ, ｅｖｅｎ ｉｆ ｗｅ ｃａｎ'ｔ ｓｅｅ ｔｈｅｍ. Ｅｖｅｎ ｉｆ ｔｈｅｙ'ｒｅ ｎｏｔ ｔｈｅｒｅ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｍｅａｎ ｔｈｅｙ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ; ｔｈｅｙ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｅｘｉｓｔ ｉｎ ｕｓ, ｉｎ ｙｏｕ, ｉｎ ｏｕｒ ｈｅａｒｔｓ ａｎｄ ｍｉｎｄｓ. Ｓｏ, Ｉ'ｍ ｎｏｔ ｓａｄ. Ｉ'ｍ ｎｏｔ ａｆｒａｉｄ. Ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｔｈｅｙ'ｒｅ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｔｈｅｒｅ ｆｏｒ ｍｅ…ｍｙ ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓ."

WQ releases 3D and she scampers back with the rest of the group. WQ rubs one of her arms as she looks to the side.

"Ｂｅｓｉｄｅｓ, Ｉ ｈａｒｄｌｙ ｆｅｅｌ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ, ａｓｉｄｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｌｏｖｅ, ｓｏ…ｅｖｅｎ ｉｆ Ｉ ｗａｓ, Ｉ ｗｏｕｌｄｎ'ｔ ｂｅ ｂｏｔｈｅｒｅｄ. Ｉ ａｍ ａ ｌｉｖｉｎｇ ｍａｃｈｉｎｅ, ｂｕｉｌｔ ｔｏ ｆｅｅｌ ｔｈｉｎｇｓ, ｂｕｔ ｍｙ ｇｅａｒｓ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｅｎｇａｇｅ."

**Ask WQ if there is anything she wants or needs.**

**If there is anything we can provide her.**

WQ looks towards Ruby, her expression remaining apathetic.

"Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｂｕｔ ａ ｓｉｎｇｌｅ ｒｅｑｕｅｓｔ. Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ, ｉｔ ｍｕｓｔ ｗａｉｔ ｕｎｔｉｌ ｙｏｕ'ｒｅ ａｂｓｏｌｕｔｅｌｙ ｓｕｒｅ ｗｅ ｈａｖｅ ｎｏｔｈｉｎｇ ｍｏｒｅ ｔｏ ｄｉｓｃｕｓｓ. Ｔａｋｅ ｙｏｕｒ ｔｉｍｅ. Ｔｈｉｓ ｗｉｓｈ ｗｉｌｌ ｃｈａｎｇｅ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ, ｉｒｒｅｖｅｒｓｉｂｌｙ."

**Ask WQ if she knows why King's head is starting to crack.**

"Ａ ｆｌｏｗｅｒ ｈａｓ ｂｌｏｏｍｅｄ. Ａ ｆｌｏｗｅｒ..." WQ trails off a bit ominously. "Ｎｏ ｏｎｅ ｈａｓ ｅｖｅｒ ｓｅｅｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｆｌｏｗｅｒ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ, ｗｈｉｃｈ ｈａｓ ｂｌｏｏｍｅｄ." WQ pauses and looks at King and the thorns sprouting from him. "Ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ ｎｏ ｆｌｏｗｅｒ."

She moves over to King slowly, coming close enough to him that it makes him uncomfortable. Suddenly she reaches out both of her hands and grabs a hold of the thorns, using them to pull him down to her eye level.

"Ｔｈａｔ…ｓｈｏｕｌｄ…ｎｏｔ…ｅｖｅｎ…ＥＸＩＳＴ." WQ says cryptically. "Ｓｏ Ｉ ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔ." She says more solemnly. "Ｔｈｅｎ, ａｎｄ ｔｈｅｎ, ｔｈｅｎ, ｔｈｅ ｆｌｏｗｅｒ…Ｉｓ ａ ｗｅｅｄ." She lets go of King, who stands there looking at her with some reluctance.

**If she's linked to all entities, then ask her about Pyrrha.**

**Ask where's her current location.**

Upon the mention of Pyrrha's name WQ rests her cheek in her hand in thought.

"Ｐｙｒｒｈａ…?" She ponders for a moment before a small gasp of recognition is emitted. "Ｏｈ." She says with an unnerving smile. "Ｂｌａｃｋ Ｓｗｏｒｄ Ｑｕｅｅｎ ｉｓ ｃｉｒｃｌｉｎｇ." She gestures to the ceiling, moving her wrist in a circular motion.

**Ask WQ if she knows where Jaune is.**

"Ｎｏ ｂｅｉｎｇ, ｈｕｍａｎ, ｍｏｎｓｔｅｒ, ｏｒ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ, ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ ｂｅａｒｓ ｔｈｅ ｎａｍｅ Ｊａｕｎｅ! Ｓｕｃｈ ａ ｂｅｉｎｇ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ. Ｊａｕｎｅ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ." She says with finality.

**Why are the entities obsessed with Ruby?**

"Ｙｅａｈ…ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｍｙ ｆａｕｌｔ." WQ says bashfully. "Ｓｏｒｒｙ ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈａｔ. Ｉ ｊｕｓｔ, Ｉ- Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ＭＥＡＮ ＴＯ…" WQ says, suddenly distressed. "Ｉ ＤＩＤ ＩＴ ＢＥＣＡＵＳＥ Ｉ ＬＯＶＥ ＹＯＵ." She clutches the sides of her head as if she were trying to contain her emotions from running rampant.

Ruby's thrown off by WQ's sudden change in demeanor. The mood swing causing the others to look at the entity with wary eyes. Seeing this and WQ's unease, Ruby tries to think of something to placate WQ.

**Can we refuse WQ's request once we know it?**

Ruby blurts this thought out. It succeeds in keeping WQ calm, but she looks to the group with a scowl.

"Ｒｅｆｕｓｉｎｇ ｉｔ?" She almost growls. "Ｔｈａｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｖｅｒｙ ｃｒｕｅｌ, ｂｏｔｈ ｔｏ ｍｅ ａｎｄ ｔｏ ｙｏｕｒｓｅｌｆ. Ｍｙ ｒｅｑｕｅｓｔ ｂｅｎｅｆｉｔｓ ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ!"

**Ask her what her request is.**

**Talk with the group before deciding anything.**

WQ puts a hand in front of her mouth as she grins, looking almost as if she's the only person in the room to get the joke.

"Ｍｙ ｒｅｑｕｅｓｔ ｉｓ ｓｉｍｐｌｅ. Ｗｈａｔ Ｉ ｗａｎｔ ｉｓ ｆｏｒ ｙｏｕ ｔｏ ＤＥＬＥＴＥ ＭＥ."Ruby watches her nervously as WQ continues. "Ｉ'ｖｅ…ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔ ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈｉｓ ｆｏｒ ａ ｗｈｉｌｅ. Ｔｈｅｒｅ ｗａｓ ａ ｔｉｍｅ Ｉ ｗａｎｔｅｄ ｔｏ ｄｉｅ…ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ- ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ ｎｏｔ ｔｈｅ ｂｅｓｔ ｏｐｔｉｏｎ. Ａｎｄ ｔｈｉｓ ｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅ ｏｆ ｍｉｎｅ ｉｓ ａｌｓｏ ｎｏｔ ｒｉｇｈｔ…Ｓｏ, Ｉ ｗａｎｔ ｔｈｉｓ ｌｉｆｅ ｒｅｓｅｔ." She says facing down at her arms. "Ｏｎｃｅ ａｎｄ ｆｏｒ ａｌｌ."

WQ holds her hands before her and 'looks' at the cuts all over them. "Ｍｙ ｆｉｎａｌ ｒｅｓｅｔ, ｐｕｔｔｉｎｇ ｔｈｉｓ ｐｉｔｉｆｕｌ ｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅ ｂａｃｋ ａｓ ｉｔ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ."WQ holds her hands over her chest, over her heart, and looks directly at Ruby. "Ｙｏｕ ｗｉｌｌ ｇｅｔ ｙｏｕｒ ｆｒｉｅｎｄ ｂａｃｋ, ａｎｄ Ｉ- Ｉ ｗｉｌｌ, ａｔ ｌａｓｔ, ｃｅａｓｅ ｔｏ ｅｘｉｓｔ."

WQ then grins as she keeps one hand near her chin. "Ａｃｈｉｅｖｉｎｇ ｔｈｉｓ ｉｓ ｓｉｍｐｌｅ." WQ explained. "Ｉ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ＥＶＥＲＹＴＨＩＮＧ ｎｏｗ. Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｔｈｅ ｆｏｒｍ ｔｏ ｗｈｉｃｈ Ｉ ｗｉｌｌ ｒｅｔｕｒｎ. Ｔｈｅ ｂｏｒｄｅｒ ｂｅｔｗｅｅｎ ｍｙ ｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅ ａｎｄ ｈｅｒｓ ｉｓ ｄｉｍ ａｎｄ ｆａｄｅｄ. Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ, ｗｉｔｈｏｕｔ ａ ｄｏｕｂｔ."

WQ looks towards Ruby with a wry smile."Ｓｕｒｅｌｙ ｂｙ ｎｏｗ ｙｏｕ ｍｕｓｔ ａｌｓｏ ｋｎｏｗ?"

Ruby's brow furrows as the weight of the decision bears down on her mind. "I have to discuss it with the others." She responds.

"…Ｖｅｒｙ ｗｅｌｌ. Ｔａｋｅ ｙｏｕｒ ｔｉｍｅ."


	36. Dirty Blood

Ruby looks to each member of her group for their opinions.

Velvet seems somewhat skeptical. "Is this really alright?"

Blake looks at Ruby with determination, her golden irises shining with confidence. "Let's do it. Get her back."

Ren doesn't look at Ruby, but answers her without much hesitation. "If I were her that is what I would want."

When Ruby looks to Glynda, the professor doesn't speak. She only looks to Ruby to make the final decision.

"Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗａｎｔ ｔｈｅ Ｑｕｅｅｎ ｔｏ ｄｉｅ." 3D says with a frown.

King approaches her from behind and places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "…Ｉｔ'ｓ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈａｔ ｗａｙ."

WQ looks at 3D with a smile, striding over to the other entity and ruffling the front of 3D's hair when she's near enough. "Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ. Ｋｉｎｇ ｉｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ."

WQ turns to face Ruby once more, the smile remaining on her face. "Ｓｕｒｅｌｙ, ｙｏｕ ｍｕｓｔ ｈａｖｅ ｆｉｇｕｒｅｄ ｉｔ ｏｕｔ ｂｙ ｎｏｗ. Ｔｈｅ ｎａｍｅ Ｉ ｕｓｅｄ ｔｏ ｃａｒｒｙ. Ｍｙ ｏｒｉｇｉｎ ｆｏｒｍ."WQ placed her arms behind her back as she stood there looking at Ruby. "Ｓｏ, ｗｈｅｎ ｙｏｕ'ｒｅ ｒｅａｄｙ-"

"ＣＡＬＬ ＭＹ ＮＡＭＥ!" She yelled out fiercely.

**Weiss Schnee.**

**Weiss!**

**WEISS SCHNEE!**

The voices override any other thoughts Ruby were to have if she were able. The name resounds so strongly in her mind, it was as if no other thought were more important than this one. Caught off guard by the sudden rush of voices, Ruby's mouth felt dry as she tried to speak.

"W- We-" Clenching her fist tightly Ruby tried once more. "WEISS! COME BACK!" Ruby yelled at the top of her lungs with such emotion-saying the name of a partner she thought she had lost—it caused tears to form in her eyes.

As soon as the words left her lips a strange weight settled in the air, focused solely around WQ. It was as if there were a gust of wind rushing around her, though there was no way such a strong breeze could enter the closed room normally.

With a gasp WQ covered her mouth and clutched at her abdomen suddenly. She was bending over slightly and Ruby could see her body trembling.

"Ｒｕｂｙ-"

Ruby looked at WQ earnestly, not sure whether she should stay where she was or comfort her. The earlier burst of emotion left her panting for breath, leaving her exhausted and speechless.

"Ｒｕｂｙ." WQ removes her hand from over her mouth to reveal bright glowing magma pouring out past her lips.

WQ reaches out a hand toward her, slowly stretching it out till she could do so no longer. It starts to shake uncontrollably then, tremors wracking her entire body.

WQ tries to speak once more, but the words came out as incomprehensible as the magma has made it impossible for her to enunciate.

Her outstretched hand begins to crumble, starting at the finger tips and traveling down her arm. Ruby could only watch the entity writhe in pain before her, unable to do anything. She felt helpless and quite useless, only being able to observe as WQ was slowly coming apart. She's unable to remove her gaze from the horrid event unfolding in front of her.

"Ｈｅｌｐ ｍｅ. Ｉ'ｍ ｓｃａｒｅｄ."

Those were the final words WQ managed to painstakingly choke out before an explosion of light consumed her entirely. The bright glow of the immolation created a blinding radiance, making everyone in the room flinch or look away.

As the light died down Ruby quickly tried to refocus on the spot WQ once stood. She immediately recognized the outline of the figure that now stood in the entity's place. The familiar pattern of clothing her partner often wore becoming visible in the dim room.

She felt elated at the thought of having Weiss at her side again. Tentatively she reached out a hand towards the girl.

"Weiss-"

Ruby jerked back her hand reflexively as she stared at Weiss' face in shock.

"Ruby? Is that you?" Weiss said in a distressed tone.

Weiss stood still, remaining where she was as she faced Ruby. However, instead of silver meeting crystal blue, the only thing Ruby could see was hollow bloody sockets. Weiss' eyes had remained gouged out. The immolation did not leave Weiss entirely unscathed.

Ruby swallows dryly. "Yeah, it's me, Ruby."

"I can't see a thing." Weiss said, her tone bordering between confusion and alarm.

"I know. It's okay, you're okay." Ruby told her assuredly.

**Let Weiss know you're reaching out towards her.**

**Time to make use of those eye bandages.**

Ruby opens the first aid kit and gets the eye dressings. She remembers what Glynda said about entities that have turned back, and the risk of infection from them. Not wanting to risk it, Ruby asks Glynda to patch Weiss up.

Glynda approaches Weiss with the eye dressings. A look of sympathy in her eyes. "Miss Schnee, are you okay if I touch you? I am going to dress your wounds, nothing more."

Weiss' features show a hint of surprise before she regains her composure. "Professor Goodwitch? Oh…yeah, I think so."

Glynda gets to work, wrapping the bandages firmly, but comfortably. Weiss looks slightly less horrific with her eye sockets covered.

Suddenly she turns her head toward King and 3D. King jumps a bit at the unexpected attention, while 3D smiles halfheartedly at her; still feeling a bit sad at WQ's deletion. "You're here, too? Professor Ozpin?" She says in surprise.

"Ｕ-Ｕｍ! Ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ, Ｉ'ｍ…"King stutters awkwardly as he attempts to explain.

"-No, wait…" Weiss cuts him off. "You're not Ozpin, are you?" She then points a finger at 3D. "Much like that isn't Yang." She states matter-of-fact.

King remains tense as he quietly says, "Ｈｏｗ ｉｓ ｓｈｅ ｄｏｉｎｇ ｔｈａｔ?"

Meanwhile, 3D chuckles at King's demeanor. "Ｉ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ." She says cheerfully.

Ruby looks at Weiss astonished. "…Yeah, they're not. How did you know?"

Weiss looks to the side. "I don't…I don't know." She admitted. "It's like- It's weird, but I can see it." She says.

"See…it?" Ruby repeats.

King watches Weiss anxiously while 3D remains nonchalant, both of her eyes open and displaying differing colors of blue and red.

"Their dirty blood."


	37. The Budding White Rose

**Ask Weiss what she means.**

"What do you mean by dirty blood?" Ruby questions.

"To be honest? I don't know. That just seems like the best wording. I see something. It's not literally blood…Still, that blood is unclean, and should be avoided."

"Can- Can you look at us, and see if anybody else has dirty blood?" Ruby asks.

"No problem. I'll give it a shot." Weiss slowly looks around the room and examines everyone present. "Ruby is clean. Professor Goodwitch is clean. Blake!" She says with some delight. "Blake is clean. Velvet is clean. Ren has dirty blood." She finishes.

**Ask Weiss if she remembers anything of when BRK captured her.**

"Hmm…I remember, vaguely." She says with a hand on her chin. "I was frightened, but I couldn't move at all. It took me here." She gestured around the classroom. "I was paralyzed. My emotions seemed distant, like a fading echo. I felt fear, but it was only a faint whisper. My body was numb, and soon, my emotions, too, were gone. The creature slathered its hand in blood and touched it to me…It burned. I don't remember anything after that. It's almost like I've been in a dreamless sleep. I know time has passed, but I remember none of it. My last memory might as well have happened mere seconds ago. I was just…gone. Erased."

**Why aren't you hugging Weiss yet?**

As the thought emerged, Ruby began to approach Weiss eagerly. Sensing her, Weiss raised an arm in front of her to keep some distance between them.

"Don't touch me without warning, thanks." She said.

Ruby raised her hands up in apology. "Sorry! I didn't mean to…"

"…Just ask first, or let me know so I can prepare." Weiss said softly, lowering her arm.

"Oh ok…Can we hug?" Ruby asked, spreading her arms with anticipation.

"…Yeah sure."

Weiss seems tense at the idea of being touched, but given some time to prepare she reaches out and hugs Ruby.

The embrace is warm and welcoming, and Ruby makes the most of it. She holds Weiss close to her, trying not to grip the other girl too tightly, but still fearful that she would be told to let go. Ruby burrows her face into Weiss' neck, breathing in her scent and feeling her pulse beat against her skin. She missed this. The thought made Ruby smile, and she could feel Weiss smiling against her collar.

**Remember that stuff about smooching Weiss?**

**It's time to smooch Weiss.**

As much as she wanted to stay in this embrace, Ruby gently pulled herself away from Weiss.

"Do you mind if I touch your face?" She quietly asked.

"That's fine." Weiss smiles as Ruby brings her hand up against her cheek. She caresses Weiss' cheek with her thumb, who hums silently in content at the motion.

Ruby leans in closer, their foreheads touching. She feels nervous. "Is it okay if I kiss you?" Ruby whispers.

Weiss giggles lightly and tilts her towards Ruby. "Yes."

Ruby moves down to meet Weiss' lips. They're so soft. Ruby blushes as she realizes that she's actually kissing Weiss. She believed that she would never get to feel this sensation, with all that has been happening.

The kiss was gentle and Ruby was careful not to become too needy for more. She closed her eyes to enjoy the final moment before they parted. Ruby's face matched the color of her namesake as she tried to catch her breath. Weiss' tinging pink as she looked away with a shy smile.

**Introduce King and 3D to Weiss.**

Once Ruby recovered her wits, she decided to properly introduce Weiss to 3D and King.

"Ｍｙ ｎａｍｅ ｉｓ Ｋｉｎｇ." He gave her a friendly wave. Ruby noticed he had attained more thorns upon his head. They were forming in a circle, like a crown.

"Ｈｅｙ ｎｅｗ ｂｕｄｄｙ! Ｉ'ｍ 3Ｄ." She waved enthusiastically, holding her severed hand up as well.

"Um, hi." Weiss waved back.

**Ask your girlfriend if she can see other things.**

**Can she see more than just people?**

Weiss looks to one side of the room. "I can't see a thing." She lifts an arm out and gazes down at it. "If I try, I can see blood. It's bright. Mine is clean too. I can't see anything beyond this room right now."

**Check Weiss' inventory.**

Weiss shows that the only things she carrying are her weapon, Mrytenaster, and some scraps of paper.

**Alright we found Weiss!**

**Are we gonna leave Beacon or what?**

King looks at Ruby with disbelief when she says these thoughts aloud.

"Ｈ-Ｈｅｙ, ｎｏｔ ｓｏ ｆａｓｔ. Ｙｏｕ ｃａｎ'ｔ ｊｕｓｔ ｌｅａｖｅ. Ｔｕｒｎｉｎｇ ｏｆｆ ｔｈｅ ｄｏｍｅ ｗｈｉｌｅ ｔｈｉｎｇｓ ａｒｅ ｓｔｉｌｌ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈｉｓ ｉｎｓｉｄｅ ｉｓ…Ｉｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｔｈｅ ｅｎｄ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｗｏｒｌｄ." He reminded them. "Ｂｅｆｏｒｅ ｔｈａｔ ｄｏｍｅ ｆａｌｌｓ, ｅｖｅｒｙ ｄｉｒｔｙ ｔｈｉｎｇ ｍｕｓｔ ｂｅ ｅｌｉｍｉｎａｔｅｄ. Ｉ ｍｅａｎ, ｉｔ'ｓ ｏｂｖｉｏｕｓ, ｗｅ ｃａｎ'ｔ ｌｅｔ ｔｈｉｓ ｉｎｆｅｃｔｉｏｎ ｏｕｔ! Ｓｏ, ｅｌｉｍｉｎａｔｅ ｕｓ ａｌｌ. Ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ, ｔｈａｔ ｉｎｃｌｕｄｅｓ ｕｓ ａｓ ｗｅｌｌ." King looked down gravely as he said this. "Ｗｈｅｎ ｔｈｅ ｔｉｍｅ ｃｏｍｅｓ, ｅｒａｓｅ ｕｓ."

"Ｉ ｓｕｐｐｏｓｅ ｉｔ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｉｓ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈａｔ ｗａｙ." 3D said with a forced smile.

**Weiss must be tired.**

**Ask if she wants to take a nap.**

"…I would appreciate that." Weiss says when Ruby voices her thoughts.

"Okay! Let's head back to the office one more time so Weiss can get some sleep." Ruby rallied the others.

"Ｇｏｏｄ ｉｄｅａ." King stated.

"I agree." Glynda voiced.

"Yes, definitely." Blake said.

As everyone began filing out of the classroom Velvet trailed behind them slowly. She stopped in the doorway to look back in the classroom, gazing at the mutilated body that Weiss couldn't see, and that everyone had ultimately ignored. She then turns back to follow the others.

On their way Weiss' voice catches everyone's attention.

"G-Guys? What…" Weiss stood above Back Rank Knight's body, looking down at its bloody form. "What happened here?" She sounded utterly confused. "Did you seriously kill Jaune right here?"


	38. Long Live The King

**Ask what Weiss is talking about.**

The group froze, looking over at Weiss in shock. Jaune?

"Weiss...What do you mean?" Ruby inquired hesitantly, "WQ told us Jaune doesn't exist. How can he be the dead entity?"

Weiss lingered a moment before explaining. "He isn't. He _was_. This corpse is an entity. This entity was Jaune. This entity's origin is Jaune. Jaune doesn't exist, this entity is dead; they have both met their end."

"But, how do you know this?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know how, but I can _see_ it. Like...I suppose you could say it's like looking back at the entity's history, all the way back to its human state."

**Check Jaune's Inventory.**

It won't open. After a few tries, Ruby manages to get it open, but it's not in good condition. It appears to be empty.

**Examine scraps in Weiss' inventory.**

When Ruby asks her for them Weiss hands them over without hesitance. The note is covered in dried blood, much similar to those that were found earlier. It doesn't make much sense…Pyrrha had the rest.

**Ask Velvet what's got her attention.**

Resuming their walk to the offices, Ruby didn't know that something was going on with the rabbit Faunus. Velvet then strode alongside Ruby.

"Ruby...Can I talk to you?" The tone in her voice implied that this conversation would be private.

Once they were a decent distance away Velvet looks at Ruby, rubbing an arm nervously before she starts. "About Weiss..." She says tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"I know it wasn't technically Weiss, but... that entity WQ - she _ate_ someone." Ruby has no response to this, and just listens as Velvet continues. "A person... someone we _knew_."

The reality of the situation weighs heavily on Ruby's mind. "Christ. Yeah."

Velvet fidgets a bit before going on. "The question that bugs me is... should we tell her? I mean, we don't really know how much she remembers, if anything. If she doesn't remember, is it right of us to keep her in the dark? We'll have to choose between keeping a huge secret from her, or telling her an awful truth."

She makes a good point.

"Yeah. I'll think about it." Ruby assures her.

"...If it was me, I'd want my teammates to tell me something like that." Velvet states in a quavering voice.

The mention of her team reminds Ruby that they had found Velvet alone in the cafeteria. It never crossed her mind before to ask about where the others were.

"Velvet, your teammates... I'm sorry I forgot to ask sooner - where are they? Do you know?" Velvet's face became grave, tears brimming her eyes as she seemed to reminisce something terrible. Realizing her carelessness, Ruby felt guilty for dredging up old pains.

"Velvet? Oh...Oh man, I'm sorry, I didn't know if-"

Her apology was cut off when Velvet spoke, her tone a low mumble. "No, it's, it's okay." After inhaling an unsteady breath she answers somberly. "They didn't make it."

Ruby stays with Velvet until she completely calms down. The two then rejoin the rest of the group, though Velvet keeps to herself.

**Talk to King.**

**What is happening to him?**

**What do the horns mean?**

**Pester him until he gives.**

It doesn't take a lot of pestering before King starts talking.

"...Ｆｉｒｓｔ ｏｆ ａｌｌ, ｌｅｔ ｉｔ ｂｅ ｋｎｏｗｎ ｔｈａｔ Ｉ ｈａｄ ｎｏ ｉｄｅａ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｈａｐｐｅｎ. Ｆｏｒ ａ ｌｏｎｇ ｔｉｍｅ ｎｏｗ, Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｂｅｅｎ ｃｏｎｆｕｓｅｄ ａｎｄ ｓｃａｒｅｄ. Ｉ ｓｔｉｌｌ ａｍ, ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈａｔ'ｓ ｈａｐｐｅｎｉｎｇ." King reaches up a hand up to touch one of the longer horns as he continues. "ＷＱ ｗａｓ ｎｏｔ ｗｒｏｎｇ ｗｈｅｎ ｓｈｅ ｌｉｋｅｎｅｄ ｉｔ ｔｏ ａ ｗｅｅｄ. Ｓｏｍｅｈｉｎｇ ｈａｓ ｔａｋｅｎ ｒｏｏｔ ｈｅｒｅ. [Ｔｈａｔ Ｇｕｙ] ｅｘｉｓｔｓ ｈｅｒｅ ｎｏｗ. Ｍａｙｂｅ ｈｅ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｄｉｄ. Ｂｕｔ ｈｅ'ｓ ｇｒｏｗｉｎｇ." His next words become more cryptic. "Ｈｅ ｗｈｏ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ - Ｔｈａｔ Ｇｕｙ ｉｓ ｉｎ ｈｅｒｅ. Ｉｎ ｍｙ ｈｅａｄ. Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ. Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏｒｒｙ. Ｈｅ'ｓ ｃｏｍｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｋｉｌｌ ｙｏｕ."

"What do we do? There has to be a way to stop it!" Ruby exclaims.

King looks to her sadly. "...Ｙｅｓ. -Ｗｅｌｌ, Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｆｏｒ ｓｕｒｅ ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ..." His eye looks down, away from Ruby's determined gaze. "Ｙｏｕ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｋｉｌｌ ｍｅ ｎｏｗ."

"What? No!" Ruby didn't want to kill King. He's been with them during most of this nightmarish environment, always lending a hand even when it wasn't required for him to do so. Without King, many things would've gone wrong for them. Though Ruby knew it would eventually come to this, she still wished for another way. "There has to be something else-" Ruby attempted to argue, but King would have none of it.

"Ｒｕｂｙ." He said forcefully, stopping her from saying more. "Ｐｌｅａｓｅ. Ｇｒａｎｔ ｍｅ ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ ｗｉｓｈ." He nearly begged.

**Put King out of his misery.**

King stood before her, his large eye focused on the ground, unable to make himself look at Ruby. "Ｒｕｂｙ." He uttered solemnly, prepared for the inevitable.

He looks up at Ruby, a relieved look in his eye when he hears the whirring and click of a weapon activating.

"Ｉ'ｍ ｇｌａｄ ｙｏｕ ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄ."

"King..."

**Shoot King, before Monarch arrives.**

Ruby wasn't sure who this 'Monarch' was, but it must've been [that guy] King had mentioned earlier. The one who was coming to kill them.

Ruby closes her eyes, gripping Crescent Rose tightly. "I'm sorry." What she was sorry for, she wasn't quite sure. There were so many things that she could say as her final words, and all she could manage was 'sorry'.

"Ｐｌｅａｓｅ, ｈｕｒｒｙ!" King urged her frantically.

**Shoot King, before Monarch takes full hold.**

**We can explain to the others later.**

**This needs to be done NOW.**

Ruby opens her eyes, a resolve firm in her mind. She looks at King with determined eyes.

**This has to be done.**

**Kill King.**

Before Ruby is able to raise her weapon, Weiss cries out. Ruby turns to find her clutching at her head. In the same moment King is in a similar fashion. Moaning in agony as he covers his face. Ruby watches the spikes on King's head grow exponentially as he's doubled over.

The two recover simultaneously shortly after, and Ruby finds King is no longer himself. Where his Eye/Mouth would be is now a blank orifice, seemingly scribbled out in red, as if to emphasize King's erasure.

Hands still clutching his face, he moves one to grip a corner of his head. The part has been severely cracked by the growth of the thorns. Without any hesitance a sickening crunch is heard as he pulls off the corner entirely. Blood sticks to the piece, and is splattered and pouring everywhere on King and his immediate surroundings. Ruby can see a tuft of something pale poking out of the exposed area.

Everyone is struck by a collective shock, unable to act in any way. More of King's head cracks and splinters, and are pulled away like the first. They simply watch the events unfold before them as 'King' takes apart the rest of his head.

**KILL KING.**

**TOO LATE.**

**WE'RE GOING TO DIE.**

As the thoughts ring in her head, Ruby blinks several times and snaps out of her stupor. She raises her weapon with nervous hands and takes aim. While the being in front of her removes a final piece attached to it, Ruby puts her finger on the trigger. When it looks at her with menacing red pupils, she fires.

As the bullet flies toward its mark this new entity moves its arm, so fast it's almost a blur, and a small explosion erupts suddenly. As the smoke clears it is obvious that the entity remains mostly unharmed.

Its arm is blackened with slight burns, and a large scorch mark sizzles on a wall next to it. It straightens itself, and looks directly at Ruby with a sinister smirk. Blood flows from the thorns protruding from its head to travel down its face.

"ＲＵＢＹ."

Ruby feels some sweat trail from her forehead down her cheek, as she listens to its voice. It sounds...

"Ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈｏ Ｉ ＡＭ?"

Realization dawns on Ruby's face, as well as the others, the fear in their hearts growing stronger at each syllable.

Its voice, sounds exactly like Ozpin's.

All of the smoke having cleared by now, it made the figure perfectly visible. The thorns on his head encircle it like a crown. His ears are pointed, and his razor fangs seem to gleam with the satisfied smirk he wears at their reactions. In the middle of its forehead is a third eye, an 'X' acting as the pupil.

Everything about this creature screams Ozpin, from the clothes it wears, to the spectacles that rest on its face.

If Ruby's thoughts were right, they were so screwed.

* * *

**A/N: a bit longer than usual cuz of update 0100 hype. There's this neato burrito vid that you can watch, which depicts the rise of Monarch. Go check it out.**

** youtu,be/xLvtNCAF6zY Just replace comma with period.**


	39. The Dome Responds

**A/N: Say what?! Ziir's updating this finally? I sure is. With the RWBYQuest comic nearing its end, I've decided to catch up on this. Got things written out up to update 0115, just gonna take a bit of time to edit. However it'll be a while before I post stuff for 0115 &amp; 0116 since I plan on making that one whole chapter. It doesn't sit right with me to cut those chain of events in the middle, so yeah. Anyways enjoy this chapter, 's bit longer than the usual chapters.**

**Oh, and, of course, thank you all for being patient with me and sticking around, as well as for those of you that recently began following this fic. Thanks guys. („・ω・„)**

* * *

**Try to stay calm and assess the situation.**

Ruby tries to stay calm. She really tries.

She fails.

**EVERYONE RUN!**

There is a certain fear that grips the party. Everyone is quaking in fear. For a moment, everyone is frozen, paralyzed by fear. The first to act is Glynda.

She steps forward and raises an arm out to the side while staring down Monarch. "Stop. You are not touching any of my students, you abomination."

Monarch chuckles in amusement, and smirks at her audacity. "Ｗｈｏ ｗｉｌｌ ｓｔｏｐ ＭＥ?"

Glynda glares determinedly, her eyes emitting a small green glow.

"I will."

The rest of the group look to her nervously when she directs her gaze to them. "…Why are you just standing there?" Ruby watches Glynda, as spikes and horns emerge from her body, ripping her clothing. Her eyes no longer seem human, but she is still very much so. She gives them a solemn expression.

"Run."

Everyone bursts into motion at the command. In the end, fear wins. It's a fear unlike anything Ruby has ever experienced. She's fought off enormous Grimm, and faced many horrors in this place, but never before had she felt fear strong enough to render her immobile. It is a kind of fear that eliminates all thought. They could do nothing but run, to put distance between themselves and that monster.

They run for their lives. No one looks back.

It isn't rational. Something about that man, that entity, that monster- Something in him struck incredible fear in them. It isn't rational, but in that moment, they felt certain that death was near, as though that monster was the reaper himself.

Ruby runs until she can't anymore, legs trembling, breath tearing in her throat like razorblades. The whole party aside from Glynda followed her. They hit a wall. Out in the grounds, there is a wall.

This must be that Dome sealing the school.

Looking up at that dome, Ruby's horrible dread begins to subside, only to be replaced with a sinking realization that they truly are trapped, her hopes fading.

**See if everyone made it.**

Ruby looks around her to make sure everyone is here. Everyone is accounted for.

**Check up on Ren.**

**He's looking a little different.**

Ruby notices Ren is indeed different. He's showing signs of becoming an entity. Pointed ears, fangs poking out from his upper lip, and his eyes look strange.

"Ren...how do you feel right now?" Ruby asks tentatively.

"I don't know. Ruby. I feel pretty 'indifferent'." His tone sounds emotionless, like he no longer cares about anything anymore.

**Ask Ren what's happening to his mouth.**

When Ruby asks, Ren shrugs then points at his mouth, opening it wide to show razor sharp fangs. "It's like this." He uses two fingers to pull one side of his mouth open and sticks out his tongue. Ren's teeth are sharp. His tongue is barbed like a cat's.

When Ruby's done inspecting Ren mentions he's hungry. "I've felt this hunger for a while, ever since we left classroom 20." He places a hand over his stomach to emphasize. "The smell of that room still lingers in my nose." He makes eye contact with Ruby, and she sees that the friendly pink color in his eyes are now almost entirely overtaken with green. Ruby would admire the beautiful mix of color, if it didn't mean he was near immolation.

**Try to find whatever is creating the dome.**

Everyone examines the dome, not yet touching it out of fear of the unknown. Blake speaks up, catching Ruby's attention.

"Ruby, remember Ozpin's journal! It says he activated the seal from the tower. That's where the source is, and that's where we'll turn it off." Ruby nods in acknowledgement.

**Is there any sign of a certain dragon flying around?**

Ruby turns her gaze back towards Beacon Academy. Far away in the darkness, a light is slowly circling the tower. Black Queen Sword is circling, like WQ said.

**Carefully poke at the dome with something.**

Ruby focuses on the dome once again, and cautiously reaches a hand out towards it. The dome reacts to her touch by emitting a soft, pulsing light.

**FUCK THE WALL**

"Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｍｙ ｃｕｅ!"

3D pulls her mechanical fist back, activating her pyrotechnic abilities. When her fist connects with the wall a loud "BOOM" resounds upon the collision. The wall emanates a bright green glow that ripples out in a large diameter, as small threads stretch far out from the epicenter. When the light fades, the result of 3D's attack is clear.

...Useless.

The dome doesn't have a single scratch…as though 3D never hit it. When the massive pulse of green light had spread out across the whole dome, it was illuminating Beacon in a faint, eerie light before it faded. It was too quick to really see anything, but the immediate area seems empty and as safe as outside gets.

**Check on 3D.**

**Make sure she didn't get hurt punching the wall.**

**Ask her what her opinion is on King.**

"Ｉ'ｍ ｆｉｎｅ. Ｎｏｔ ａ ｓｃｒａｔｃｈ." She lifts up her arm to show that she is indeed unharmed. "...Ｋｉｎｇ?" She starts uncertainly. "Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｆｅｅｌ ｇｏｏｄ ａｂｏｕｔ ｉｔ." She looks away, tears in her eyes and bites at her quivering bottom lip. "Ｔｈｏｕｇｈ ｗｅ ｗｅｒｅｎ'ｔ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｂｕｄｄｉｅｓ, ｈｅ ｗａｓ ｋｉｎｄａ ｌｉｋｅ ｍｙ ｄａｄ." 3D admitted in a heartfelt tone.

**Ask Weiss and 3D if they know anything at all about Monarch.**

When Ruby asks 3D, the entity's downcast behavior becomes more rigid and spiteful.

"Ｔｈａｔ ｇｕｙ ｋｉｌｌｅｄ ｍｙ ｎｏｔ-ｄａｄ." She crosses her arms over each over, and Ruby notices her spikes have emerged on them. Following after her sentence she growls, baring her fangs. "Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｈｅ'ｓ ａ ＨＵＧＥ ＤＯＮＧＬＯＲＤ, ｂｕｔ ａｌｓｏ ｔｅｒｒｉｆｙｉｎｇ. Ｉｔ'ｓ ｌｉｋｅ Ｉ ｗａｎｎａ ｋｉｃｋ ｈｉｓ ｒｏｙａｌ ａｓｓ, ｂｕｔ ａｌｓｏ ｒｕｎ ａｗａｙ ｓｃｒｅａｍｉｎｇ." She said frustratingly.

"3D is right. Just being near that guy evoked such a strong response in all of us...All we could do was flee." She said solemnly. "His blood looked normal for an entity. What I saw beyond that blood was worse...I thought my head would split open with the impressions. It hurt so much. I was overwhelmed." Weiss reminisced. "Though my pain probably doesn't hold a candle to what King must have felt." She said dolefully.

**Have Weiss check everyone's blood again, just in case.**

"Weiss...Did you see any change in Glynda's blood? Can you check everyone's blood again?" While asking these questions Ruby touched the dome, watching the glow radiate from her touch.

Weiss moves next to Ruby, and places a hand over hers. "Ruby...Everyone's blood is the same as before. Professor Goodwitch was clean."

**Ren needs to die.**

**Shoot him before he turns.**

**Don't make the same mistake you did with King.**

**Talk to him.**

**Ask him if he can handle the change or wants to die.**

Ruby's conflicting thoughts assail her mind with these commands. She chooses to talk to Ren.

"Ren. It's kind of obvious you're changing. Do you want to go through with it, or do you want us to...kill you."

He looks at her expressionless and tilts his head to the side, spreading out his arms to either side; he shrugs. "Who cares? I don't anymore. It's up to you now, Ruby. I'll follow your lead." Ren lowers his arms and bows his head. "Let me become like 'them', or let death save me. Either way is better than this." Ren looks to Ruby again, his expression still stoic. "I feel a burning. I am afraid we are short on time...It's your choice now."

That's what he says, but…Ruby doesn't really feel like this is a choice she should be making. However, it doesn't seem like Ren is going to take a stance on it right now.

**Change or death, we should empty Ren's inventory.**

Ruby Asks Ren for his items and he obliges. She takes the note written by Nora, and gives the history textbook and letter to Weiss.

**Don't shoot Ren.**

**He may come back like Glynda and Weiss.**

**Boop his nose.**

**Assure him that he should keep fighting.**

**Nora's rooting for him.**

**Try going around the rim for good measure.**

Ruby had made her decision. She lets Ren know of her choice.

"This is where we part, then." He holds a hand out and Ruby takes it with firm shake. Ruby then poked his nose, saying a quiet "boop".

"Don't worry Ren...We'll definitely save you. We'll find a way, for sure. Don't give up! We'll be there for you, every step of the way."

The party splits up: Ren goes off on his own in one direction, while Ruby, Weiss, Velvet, 3D, and Blake go the other way. Everyone says goodbye. After that, no one says a word...Trailing hands along the dome for light, they walk. After what feels like hours Ruby looks back just in time to see the incredible unfold.

When Ren, touching the dome, undergoes his transformation...the dome responds.

Suddenly the dome seems to have vanish as light pours down on the group, the warmth of the sun is felt against their skin. The clear blue sky is brighter than Ruby could remember, and soft white clouds float along its canvas.

_The real world is still out there._

Ruby looks down in front of her at the sound of someone gasping. She sees two people standing there, and stares unblinking, afraid that they would disappear like a mirage. However they react quickly to their presence, one of them shouting into an earpiece at the change in circumstances.

_They're looking for you. Trying to save you._

The other person reaches out a hand towards Ruby, and with disbelief Ruby stretches her hand out to meet them.

For a moment, the world out there was so close…

_So close, you could almost touch it_.

_You can practically feel it._

…and then it disappears.

That wretched wall is back, as if nothing happened…but it did. Everyone saw it. That wonderful world still exists out there. Waiting.

_You will be free again._

Ruby slams a fist against the dome, small ripples of light emanating from the impact. She falls against the dome, defeated from the turn of events.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" She shouts in frustration. "It's not fair." She says again with a sob, tears streaming down her face and dropping off her chin. "This is too cruel."


	40. Have Faith

Her head remains bowed as she silently cries. She feels a gentle touch on her shoulder, a reassuring squeeze meant to provide comfort. "Ruby." Blake says. "We're going to get out of here. We can't afford to give up now."

Ruby looks up at her, sees the unshed tears forming in her eyes. Sees her trying to be strong, for her, for everyone.

"Everyone out there is ok, and doing their best to help us...the outside world is still bright and vibrant. It's cruel to be shown something like that, only to have it immediately taken away, but if anything, this only makes me even more determined to get out." Blake gives Ruby a strained smile.

"Blake is right. We can't give up now." Velvet says this with a smile, even though tears fall down her face.

Weiss approaches the wall and places a hand against it, it emits a faint glow. "We'll get there." She says. "I just wish it didn't feel so damn _far_."

**Ask Weiss if she saw what just happen.**

**Did her unique vision catch anything.**

"There was a very bright flash- green- that was eaten away by an even brighter white. I saw two people I didn't recognize. They were outside...and then, just like that, it all went dark again."

**3D is an entity born within the dome.**

**Has she ever seen the sky?**

**What was it like for her to see the rest of the world?**

Ruby directs her gaze at 3D to find the entity standing frozen with a look of awe. Her mechanical hand gripping a spot over her chest as she stares up at the dome.

"...Ｉ ｌｏｏｋｅｄ ｏｕｔｓｉｄｅ ｔｈｅ ｄｏｍｅ ａｎｄ ｓａｗ ａ ｗｏｒｌｄ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｓｅｅｎ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ ｗｉｔｈ ｍｙ ｏｗｎ ｅｙｅｓ... Ａ ｗｏｒｌｄ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｏ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｔｏ ｗｉｔｎｅｓｓ." She gazed longingly at the dome, her eyes seeming to fill with a hope that flickered into regret. "Ｔｈａｔ ｗｏｒｌｄ ｉｓ ｎｏｔ ｍｙ ｗｏｒｌｄ."

As she uttered those words, staring wistfully at the impregnable dome, her eyes began to water and spill forth pent up emotions.

"Ｉ ｓｈｏｕｌｄｎ'ｔ ｂｅ ｔｈｅ ｏｎｅ ｔｏ ｓｅｅ ｉｔ...ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ ｎｏｔ ｍｙ ｗｏｒｌｄ ｔｏ ｓｅｅ. Ｔｈａｔ ｂｅａｕｔｙ ｉｓ Ｙａｎｇ'ｓ. Ｉ ｗｉｓｈ ｓｈｅ ｈａｄ ｇｏｔｔｅｎ ｔｏ ｓｅｅ ｉｔ, ｔｏｏ." 3D splayed her fingers out over her chest and bowed her head, a feeling of despair wrought within her next words. "Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｏ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｔｏ ｌｉｖｅ. Ｍｙ ｖｅｒｙ ｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅ ｉｓ ａ ｗｏｒｓｔ-ｃａｓｅ ｓｃｅｎａｒｉｏ. Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｈｏｗ ｙｏｕ ａｌｌ ｆｅｅｌ ａｂｏｕｔ ｍｅ."

3D lifted her head to face them, a forced smile that looked misplaced on her tear stained face. "Ｉ'ｌｌ...ｌｅａｖｅ. Ｗｈｅｎｅｖｅｒ ｙｏｕ ｗａｎｔ. Ｆｏｒ ｇｏｏｄ." The words came out choked as 3D kept herself from sobbing. "...Ｉ ｇｏｔ ｔｏ ｅｘｉｓｔ ｈｅｒｅ ｗｉｔｈ ｙｏｕ, ｅｖｅｎ ｆｏｒ ｊｕｓｔ ａ ｓｈｏｒｔ ｗｈｉｌｅ... Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｅｎｏｕｇｈ ｆｏｒ ｍｅ. Ｉ'ｍ ｈａｐｐｙ."

**Don't kill 3D!**

**She deserves to exist and experience beauty and life as much as anyone!**

**Give 3D the best hug she ever had.**

**Tell 3D you're glad they're there and that you met them.**

**Tell 3D you're their friend, and thankful for all they've done.**

Ruby couldn't stand it anymore. Unable to reign in her own emotions, Ruby leapt at 3D and embraced her in a tight hug, uncaring of how tightly she squeezed.

"You don't have to go yet, 3D. We're your friends. I'm thankful for all you've done...and I'm glad that we got to meet. I'm sorry for all the shitty things we said and did to you. For now, please stay."

3D was taken aback by the confession, unable to will herself to react to Ruby's sudden gesture, she stood stock still. She only managed to mutter Ruby's name in disbelief.

**Don't you worry about the dark…**

Before 3D could muster the courage to say more Ruby began to sing.

"I will light up the night,

with the live in my heart.

I will burn like the sun,

I will keep you safe and warm.

Like the smell of a rose on a summer's day

I will be there to take all your fears away."

3D found the strength in herself to return Ruby's hug, her tears soaking into her shirt as she cried happily while Ruby sang.

**Okay! Now pull yourself together.**

**There's a huge Dong Lord that needs to die.**

**Ask anyone if they have an idea.**

After all of their emotions seemed spent the team gathered together to prepare for the next thing to tackle, and in this case it involved taking down Monarch. As everyone huddled close Velvet and Blake were reassuring 3D who was still wiping away her tears.

"By the way, sorry for stabbing you way back when." Velvet said with a pat to 3D's shoulder.

"Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｏｋ Ｓｔａｂｂｕｎ." 3D said with a smile.

"...Please don't call me that..." Velvet sighed.

"Ｈｅｈ, ｓｏｒｒｙ ｂｕｄｄｙ."


	41. Silence Not Golden

"Okay so time to brainstorm!" Ruby announced to the others, pumping her fist in the air.

"Problem is, we don't actually know what we're up against here." Weiss stated. "He was able to...deflect two bullets, somehow, before they hit him. His reflexes must be insane- unimaginable-, not to mention his power."

Blake posed with a finger to her mouth, contemplating Weiss' insight. "...So, we strike before he knows we're there, and take him out before he has a chance to fight back."

Weiss gives her an approving nod, smiling as she points to Blake. "Of course _you_ would come up with something like that, you sneaky ninja huntress."

"Well y'know it's only logical isn't it." Blake smiled back.

"I like it."

"Thanks."

"I agree with Blake," Velvet piped in. "and I think we should move to a safer, more defendable place, get some rest or even food, and iron out our plan."

"Ｗｈａｔ ｔｈｅｙ ｓａｉｄ. Ｏｈ! Ａｎｄ ｉｆ ｗｅ ｆｉｎｄ ａｎｙｏｎｅ ａｌｏｎｇ ｔｈｅ ｗａｙ, ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｈａｖｅ ｔｈｅｍ ｊｏｉｎ ｕｓ. Ｗｅ ｎｅｅｄ ａｓ ｍｕｃｈ ｐｏｗｅｒ ａｓ ｗｅ ｃａｎ ｇｅｔ."

Everyone seems to be in agreement. So, where to?

**Make sure everyone has a weapon.**

The group mumbled among themselves as they tried to think of a suitable location. Ruby calls for an inventory check while they're at it.

Ruby has Crescent Rose, Blake has Gambol Shroud and both of Ren's Storm Flower, 3D has Ember Celiclaw and its original twin, Weiss has Myrtenaster, and Velvet has her knife.

It seems there's an abundance of weapons among the group.

**We should go check on Ren's entity, if we can find it.**

"I'm not sure we should try that right now..." Weiss said. "It's probably wandered off by now."

"Let's at least just go look." Ruby pressed.

"Ok, but... Let's be careful."

And so, each of them placing a hand on the dome for light, they go back to where they left Ren and beyond that, to the place he turned.

Maybe.

Honestly everything looks super samey in the dark, but this is the best guess. Ruby decides to try a different approach.

"Ren? You there?"

Only silence answers as there's no response. No one sees any sign of Ren. It is quiet. Very, very quiet. Eventually, it's decided that they look for Ren later. For now, they move on.

**Head back to the cafeteria for food and rest.**

**Keep a look-out for anyone else on the way.**

Everyone agrees, and the party makes a bee line for the cafeteria.

They keep an eye out for anybody else along the way. The vigilant manner in which they searched made Ruby realize something. It didn't really occur to her before just how quiet it was in Beacon now...The once bustling school is empty and dead. The party don't see any others at all on their way to the cafeteria. It is strange, and somehow, eerie.

As they walk down the familiar hall they took before Ruby sees Nora's half transformed corpse. She's certain that Weiss sees the body. However no one says a word about it.

Later. They'll talk later. Ruby hopes.

As they enter through the doors Ruby would like nothing more than to be able to say that the cafeteria is exactly as they left it.

But that would be a lie.

There is blood all over the place, left on tables and the floor, some of it smeared against the walls. In one corner of the area the walls have quite a few objects marking it, but Ruby can't quite make it out from this distance. In that same spot there is lots of blood painted everywhere.

**Examine pool of blood on the table.**

In a pool of blood on a table nearest to the group Ruby recognizes a pair of very familiar-looking glasses.. 3D picks them up. They're cracked and bent terribly, carefully, she bends them back into shape. Bent, twisted, and shattered far beyond repair, Glynda's glasses are an unsettling indicator of their owner's fate.

**Check out what's going on with the wall.**

Moving further into the room, it turns out to be dozens- hundreds- of objects embedded in the wall. Knives, forks...hundreds of eating and cooking utensils stabbed into the wall, some to the hilt. It actually seems to spell something, but Ruby can't read it at her current angle.

**Do the knives on the far wall say something?**

As they move further back and against the opposite wall they look directly at it, now able to read it.

_"I'm so fucking happy." _That's what it says.

**Check what's in the bloodied corner.**

Directly underneath the message, in the very corner of the room is an extremely bloodied area. Ruby has a very bad feeling about it, but she has to investigate. They all go over there, and Ruby has her fears confirmed.

Lying there on the floor in a bloodied mess of giant wounds and gashes is Glynda.

Dead.


	42. Red Death Killer Heels

A collective hush falls over the group, no one willing to make the first move as they stare at Glynda's body. Ruby musters enough confidence to speak, her voice wavering noticeably.

"We should move her or do something to cover her up." She said. "It wouldn't feel right to just leave her here like this."

3D takes a step forward-it's only logical that she should make contact in case of infection-her lips dragged into a frown as she gazes with tearful eyes.

"...Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｍｏｖｅ ｈｅｒ...ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｃａｎ ｓｅｅ ａｂｏｕｔ...ｃｏｖｅｒｉｎｇ...Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ." 3D looks uncertainly at the only material they have capable of covering Glynda.

"Ｔｈｉｓ ｃｌｏｔｈ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｖｅｒｙ ｂｉｇ. Ａｔ ｌｅａｓｔ ｈｅｒ ｆａｃｅ, Ｉ ｇｕｅｓｓ?"

Ruby nods, though she isn't sure if 3D sees the gesture, already she's moving closer, the cloth in hand.

"Ｙ-Ｙｅａｈ, Ｉ-Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｔｈａｔ-ｉｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｎｉｃｅ." 3D says, her hands trembling fiercely as she holds out the cloth in front of her and gently places it over Glynda's face.

She remains kneeling over the professor, lamenting the loss of such a wonderful role model.

**Check Glynda's hand.**

**Left ring finger.**

**Look for the ring.**

**It doesn't seem to be there.**

Ruby scrunches up he face in thought, not sure if she should ask more of 3D. The voices continue to nag at her though, insisting she listen.

"3D..." she said tentatively. "If it's not too much: can you check her hand? Left ring finger. Is she wearing anything on that finger?"

3D gingerly lifts Glynda's lifeless hand, the appendage caked with her blood.

"Ｓｈｅ'ｓ ｎｏｔ ｗｅａｒｉｎｇ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｏｎ ａｎｙ ｆｉｎｇｅｒ." 3D mumbled.

She didn't understand the importance behind Ruby's inquiry when a memory struck her.

"...! Ｙｅａｈ ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ!" The entity exclaimed.

"Ｓｈｅ ｈａｄ ａ ｒｉｎｇ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ...ａｎ ｅｎｇａｇｅｍｅｎｔ ｒｉｎｇ."

Suddenly 3D's upbeat voice turned into a darker tone, the anger starting so quiet it was frightening.

"...Ｈｅ ｍｕｓｔ ｈａｖｅ ｔａｋｅｎ ｉｔ."

3D faced Ruby with a flash of unbridled hate in her mismatched eyes, her fangs bared in a snarl. A truly frightening look that was unhindered by the tears that flowed freely along her cheeks. A low guttural growl escaped her as she said her next words.

"ＴＨＡＴ ＳＩＣＫ ＰＩＥＣＥ ＯＦ ＳＨＩＴ ＳＴＯＬＥ ＨＥＲ ＲＩＮＧ."

Ruby moves over to 3D, Blake shadowing her movement, and the two try their best to calm 3D until she's ready to check Glynda's inventory.

They find on her person a knife, a flower, a photo, a bottle of sleeping pills, and barrettes. Some of the items Ruby recognized as ones from classroom 20.

Ruby decides to take a closer look at the photo and pills. The photo is a personal one. It depicts Ozpin and Glynda, both of them smiling at the camera side by side. It's a bittersweet memory of what they used to be. Other than that the only remarkable thing about it is that it seems to have been taken a long time ago.

The bottle of pills turns out to be prescription medicine. It says it's for insomnia, with a recommendation for moderate use. Thinking back, Ruby isn't sure if Glynda always followed that recommendation.

They decide to take the items, giving Velvet the knife and pills, while 3D holds onto the photo. Ruby takes the flower and barrettes in hand, placing the flower into Glynda's open hand. The barrettes she uses in 3D's hair, pulling her bangs out of her tearful face.

"Ｒｕｂｙ...Ｉ ｌｏｏｋ ｌｉｋｅ ａ ｈｕｇｅ ｄｏｒｋ." 3D manages to smile, bringing a smile to Ruby's lips.

"I think you look cute." Ruby says honestly.

3D rubs the tears from her eyes, her expression grateful.

"Ｔｈａｎｋｓ, Ｒｕｂｅｓ."

**Ask 3D how her eye is doing.**

**Does she feel okay?**

**It had the same mark King had before her changed.**

Ruby had been pondering those same questions herself, but the moment never seemed safe enough to ask.

"Ｉｔ ｆｅｅｌｓ ｏｋａｙ. Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗｏｒｒｙ." 3D says to reassure her, even though her scarred eye continuously alternates among various colors and designs, making the statement hard to believe.

She decides not to linger of the subject as it seems somewhat irrelevant to their current situation.

The group finally address their reason for coming here. Finding a corner in the cafeteria that is the least grim, they settle into the nook as comfortably as they can manage. It's by the door, so no one should be able to easily spot them if they walked by.

Ruby tells the others she's headed into the kitchen to search for food. Velvet offers to go with Ruby to help get food for everyone. Ruby agrees, figuring she can't carry enough food for all of them on her own.

When they enter the room Ruby goes to the sink to wash her hands, not wanting to spoil any of the food they do find with filthy fingers. Velvet occupies herself with rummaging in the refrigerator, making some small talk as she does so.

"There aren't a lot of easy meals that aren't going bad." Velvet says.

Ruby hums in acknowledgement to her words.

"The veggies are dead."

There's a pregnant pause as she rifles through a few more things. When Velvet speaks again her tone is much more hushed than before.

"...How are you holding up, Ruby?"

"I'm okay."

"Really?" Velvet says absentmindedly as she searches for the expiration date on a jar.

"...This pasta sauce is still good, if you can find any pasta. I mean, that stuff never goes bad."

"Right..."

Ruby looks through a few cabinets before finding something useful.

"There's a huge bag of macaroni here, so..."

"It's pretty quick to make, too." Velvet says.

Ruby gives another agreeing hum, and the two prepare the meal.

As they wait on the food Ruby looks over at Velvet. She looks absolutely haggard and about ready to pass out, but oddly that's not the first thing Ruby worries about.

It is now that Ruby comes to realize Velvet's combat situation isn't the best. The only weapons she has are knives, and with what they know about entity blood, it would be very easy for that to get on Velvet if she were to fight.

The voices in her head whisper a ridiculous idea to her, even she's not sure if it's something suggested by the voices or simply her own strange fantasies. In her sleep deprived state Ruby goes ahead and relays the plan to Velvet.

Ruby voices her concern to the Faunus girl, who in turn nods at her insight.

"Okay, so I think I have a pretty good idea to prevent that and still allow you to fight." Velvet looked interested, leaning toward Ruby to hear her plan.

"Alright, so we know that when fighting entities blood could get all over you really easy. BUT! What if we took my boots, some mechanisms from the ovens, and those knives, built some slides for the knives to go on and attach them to the boots?"

When Ruby suggests her plan Velvet's weary face turns from understanding to bafflement.

"Just think about it. Knife kicks are awesome! And it'll make it less likely for blood to get on you. As for me, don't worry, I'll just wear your shoes for now. I'm sure I could always get some shoes later."

Ruby gives a thumbs up, a stiff and goofy smile plastered on her face.

When Velvet still looks at her with a "literally what" expression Ruby then adds.

"Also Red Death Killer Heels would be a sick name to give them. Just saying."

At this Velvet returned the same expression and gesture to her, replying with, "What a name! I'm in."

Without further ado, Ruby dismantles one of the ovens and straps some god damn knives to Velvet's feet. Great.

So exhausted she can't help it any longer, Velvet laughs fully. In the middle of it all she manages to laugh...the sound is almost strange to Ruby.

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen."

Ruby surprises herself to find that she, too, despite it all, manages a smile.

"Yeah, but it's hella cool."

"Oh yeah, definitely."

When Ruby finishes she has Velvet stand so that they can give it a look over. Everything seems to work out fine. With both boots and food now done, they return to the others. No one questions the spectacle of the Red Death Killer Heels, but it manages to bring a smile to them, even Weiss manages to hide a smile behind her hand when Blake describes it to her.


	43. We Have Us A Plan

**Get 3D to move the body.**

**Find something to cover it up.**

A collective hush falls over the group, no one willing to make the first move as they stare at Glynda's body. Ruby musters enough confidence to speak, her voice wavering noticeably.

"We should move her or do something to cover her up." She said. "It wouldn't feel right to just leave her here like this."

3D takes a step forward-it's only logical that she should make contact in case of infection-her lips dragged into a frown as she gazes with tearful eyes.

"...Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｍｏｖｅ ｈｅｒ...ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｃａｎ ｓｅｅ ａｂｏｕｔ...ｃｏｖｅｒｉｎｇ...Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ." Velvet hands 3D the cloth she was carrying. 3D looks uncertainly at the only material they have capable of covering Glynda. "Ｔｈｉｓ ｃｌｏｔｈ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｖｅｒｙ ｂｉｇ. Ａｔ ｌｅａｓｔ ｈｅｒ ｆａｃｅ, Ｉ ｇｕｅｓｓ? Ｙ-Ｙｅａｈ, Ｉ-Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｔｈａｔ-ｉｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｎｉｃｅ." 3D says, her hands trembling fiercely as she holds out the cloth in front of her and gently places it over Glynda's face.

She remains kneeling over the professor, lamenting the loss of such a wonderful role model.

**Check Glynda's hand left hand.**

**The engagement ring doesn't seem to be there.**

Ruby scrunches up he face in thought, not sure if she should ask more of 3D. The voices continue to nag at her though, insisting she listen.

"3D..." she says tentatively. "If it's not too much: can you check her hand? Left ring finger. Is she wearing anything on that finger?"

3D gingerly lifts Glynda's lifeless hand, the appendage caked with her blood. "Ｓｈｅ'ｓ ｎｏｔ ｗｅａｒｉｎｇ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｏｎ ａｎｙ ｆｉｎｇｅｒ." 3D mumbled.

She didn't understand the importance behind Ruby's inquiry when a memory struck her. "...! Ｙｅａｈ ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ!" The entity exclaimed. "Ｓｈｅ ｈａｄ ａ ｒｉｎｇ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ...ａｎ ｅｎｇａｇｅｍｅｎｔ ｒｉｎｇ."

Suddenly 3D's upbeat voice turned into a darker tone, the anger starting so quiet it was frightening. "...Ｈｅ ｍｕｓｔ ｈａｖｅ ｔａｋｅｎ ｉｔ."

3D faced Ruby with a flash of unbridled hate in her mismatched eyes, her fangs bared in a snarl. A truly frightening look that was unhindered by the tears that flowed freely along her cheeks. A low guttural growl crawled from her throat.

"ＴＨＡＴ ＳＩＣＫ ＰＩＥＣＥ ＯＦ ＳＨＩＴ ＳＴＯＬＥ ＨＥＲ ＲＩＮＧ."

**If it's not too much, see if she has anything useful on her.**

Ruby moves over to 3D, Blake shadowing her movement, and the two try their best to calm 3D until she's ready to check Glynda's inventory. They find on her person a knife, a flower, a photo, a bottle of sleeping pills, and barrettes. Some of the items Ruby recognized as ones from classroom 20.

**Closely examine the photo and sleeping pills.**

The photo is a personal one. It depicts Ozpin and Glynda, both of them smiling at the camera side by side. It's a bittersweet memory of what they used to be. Other than that the only remarkable thing about it is that it seems to have been taken a long time ago.

The bottle of pills turns out to be prescription medicine. It says it's for insomnia, with a recommendation for moderate use. Thinking back, Ruby isn't sure if Glynda always followed that recommendation.

They decide to take all of the items, giving Velvet the knife and pills, while 3D holds onto the photo.

Ruby takes the flower and barrettes, placing the flower into Glynda's open hand. The barrettes she uses in 3D's hair, pulling her bangs out of her tearful face.

"Ｒｕｂｙ...Ｉ ｌｏｏｋ ｌｉｋｅ ａ ｈｕｇｅ ｄｏｒｋ." 3D manages to smile, bringing a smile to Ruby's lips.

"I think you look cute." Ruby says honestly.

3D rubs the tears from her eyes, her expression grateful. "Ｔｈａｎｋｓ, Ｒｕｂｅｓ."

**Ask 3D how her eye is doing.**

**Does she feel okay?**

**It had the same mark King had before her changed.**

Ruby had been pondering those same questions herself, but the moment never seemed safe enough to ask.

"Ｉｔ ｆｅｅｌｓ ｏｋａｙ. Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗｏｒｒｙ." 3D says to reassure her, even though her scarred eye continuously alternates among various colors and designs, making the statement hard to believe.

**We should really get things sorted to move on.**

**Find a clean spot in the cafeteria to eat and rest.**

Finding a corner in the cafeteria that is the least grim, they settle as comfortably as they can manage. It's by the door, so no one should be able to easily spot them if they walked by.

Ruby tells the others she's headed into the kitchen to search for food. Velvet offers to go with Ruby to help get food for everyone. Ruby agrees, figuring she can't carry enough food for all of them on her own.

When they enter the room Ruby goes to the sink to wash her hands, not wanting to spoil any of the food they do find with filthy fingers. Velvet occupies herself with rummaging in the refrigerator, making some small talk as she does so.

"There aren't a lot of easy meals that aren't going bad." Velvet says.

Ruby hums in acknowledgement to her words.

"The veggies are dead."

There's a pregnant pause as she rifles through a few more things. When Velvet speaks again her tone is much more hushed than before.

"...How are you holding up, Ruby?"

"I'm okay."

"Really?" Velvet says skeptically as she searches for the expiration date on a jar. "...This pasta sauce is still good, if you can find any pasta. I mean, that stuff never goes bad."

"Right..." Ruby looks through a few cabinets before finding something useful. "There's a huge bag of macaroni here, so..."

"It's pretty quick to make, too." Velvet says.

Ruby gives another agreeing hum, and the two prepare the meal.

As they wait on the food Ruby looks over at Velvet. She looks absolutely haggard and about ready to pass out, but oddly that's not the first thing Ruby worries about. It is now that Ruby comes to realize Velvet's combat situation isn't the best. The only weapons she has are knives, and with what they know about entity blood, it would be very easy for that to get on Velvet if she were to fight.

The voices in her head whisper a ridiculous idea to her, even she's not sure if it's something suggested by the voices or simply her own strange fantasies. In her sleep deprived state Ruby goes ahead and relays the plan to Velvet.

"Okay, so I think I have a pretty good idea to prevent that and still allow you to fight." Velvet looked interested, leaning toward Ruby to hear her plan.

"Alright, so we know that when fighting entities blood could get all over you really easy. BUT! What if we took my boots, some mechanisms from the ovens, and those knives, built some slides for the knives to go on and attach them to the boots?"

When Ruby suggests her plan Velvet's weary face turns from understanding to bafflement.

"Just think about it. Knife kicks are awesome! And it'll make it less likely for blood to get on you. As for me, don't worry, I'll just wear your shoes for now. I'm sure I could always get some shoes later."

Ruby gives a thumbs up, a stiff and goofy smile plastered on her face. However, Velvet still looks at her with a bewildered expression, so Ruby then adds more.

"Also Red Death Killer Heels would be a sick name to give them. Just saying."

At this Velvet returned the same expression and gesture to her. "What a name! I'm in."

Without further ado, Ruby dismantles one of the ovens and straps some god damn knives to Velvet's feet. Great.

So exhausted she can't help it any longer, Velvet laughs. In the middle of it all she manages to laugh...the sound is almost strange to Ruby.

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen."

Ruby surprises herself to find that she, too, despite it all, manages a smile. "Yeah, but it's hella cool."

"Oh yeah, definitely."

When Ruby finishes she has Velvet stand so that they can give it a look over. Everything seems to work out fine. With both boots and food now done, they return to the others. No one questions the spectacle of the Red Death Killer Heels, but it manages to bring a smile to them, even Weiss manages to hide a smile behind her hand when Blake describes it to her.


	44. Trade Your Disappointment For Info

**Don't whip out Crescent Rose yet.**

**Ask Monarch why he's crying.**

As frightful as Ruby feels in his presence, she stays her hand, opting to talk to Monarch instead of inciting his wrath. Ruby asks Monarch why he is crying.

For a long time he is silent.

Quietly, he jumps down from TTSE. He makes no move towards Ruby after coming down to her level.

"Ｗｈｙ ａｍ Ｉ ＣＲＹＩＮＧ?" He says with incredulity, as if Ruby is missing something obvious. "Ｉｔ'ｓ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏ ＤＩＳＡＰＰＯＩＮＴＥＤ..."

A bright blue light sprouts from his back in the form of large claws, and in a blink, one spears into TTSE's head with a sickening crunch.

"Ｉｎ ＴＨＩＳ."

He lifts one of his arms, directing it at Ruby, and thus controlling one of the phantasm arms to hover in front of her face.

"Ｉｎ ＹＯＵ."

Ruby can't say a word, she didn't even have time to flinch when the intangible arm- pulsating with controlled energy- hovers over her. The speed at which it came managed to knock the cap off of Ruby's head, but at the moment that was the least of her worries. When that giant hand draws away as abruptly as it appeared, it feels like it pulls all the air in Ruby's lungs out with it.

"...ｉｎ ａｌｌ ｏｆ ＴＨＩＳ." Monarch says solemnly.

Monarch removes his glasses, sweeping both arms out wide as he continues speaking. "Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｙｏｕ ＳＥＥ? Ｔｈｉｓ ｅｎｔｉｒｅ ＷＯＲＬＤ! Ｉｔ'ｓ ＴＲＡＳＨ!" Monarch gestures with his hands fiercely, tears still in his eyes but waning with his outburst. "Ｉ ａｍ ｃｒｙｉｎｇ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ ｉｓ ＧＡＲＢＡＧＥ! Ｆｉｌｔｈ, ｆａｉｌｕｒｅ, ａｂｓｏｌｕｔｅ ＴＲＡＳＨ! Ａｎｄ Ｉ ａｌｏｎｅ ｃａｎ ｃｌｅａｎｓｅ ＩＴ."

Ruby looks at him nervously, a voice in her head urging her to speak.

"I don't suppose we could just talk about this?" She says meekly.

Monarch falls silent, motionless as he glowers at Ruby. Calmly, he answers.

"Ｙｏｕ ｈａｖｅ ｏｎｅ ｍｉｎｕｔｅ ｔｏ ｃｏｎｖｉｎｃｅ ｍｅ ｔｏ ｎｏｔ ｋｉｌｌ ｙｏｕ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｈｅｒｅ ａｎｄ ＮＯＷ."

The thought strikes like lightening in her mind:

**If ever there was a time to use Glynda's name to placate him, it would be now.**

**Ask him where the ring is.**

**Ask him why he took it.**

With a fierceness she didn't think she still managed to possessed, Ruby rallied against Monarch. "Where is Glynda's ring? I know you took it!"

At the mention of Glynda's name Monarch bristles, his eyes glowing crimson and a growl tearing from his throat. "Ｗｈａｔ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ ａｂｏｕｔ ＴＨＡＴ?! Ｈｏｗ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ａｂｏｕｔ ＴＨＡＴ?"

Ruby didn't back down. "That ring is significant! I know what it represented! Why did you take it?!" Ruby huffed from exertion, the shouting taking a bit more from her than she expected.

Gradually, Monarch's power dissipates and he slowly lowers his arms. For a moment he looked more like the man he embodied than the creature he is now.

"Ｉ...Ｉ ｔｏｏｋ ｉｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｓｈｅ ｔｏｌｄ ｍｅ ｔｏ."

Ruby was taken aback by the response, but before she could ask for an explanation Monarch continued.

"'Ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｈｅ ｌｅａｓｔ Ｉ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｇｉｖｅ ｙｏｕ,'ｓｈｅ ｓａｉｄ. 'Ｉ ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｗａｎｔ ｉｔ ｔｏ ｒｏｔ ｗｉｔｈ ｍｙ ｂｏｄｙ ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｓａｙ Ｉ ｄｅｓｅｒｖｅ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｈｅｒｅ, ｔｈｅｎ ｌｅｔ ｔｈｅ ｒｉｎｇ ｂｅ ａ ｒｅｐｒｅｓｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎ ｏｆ ｍｙｓｅｌｆ.'"

Monarch reached into his pants pocket, procuring the ring on an open palm.

"Ａ ｍｅｍｏｒｙ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｇｏｏｄ ｔｈａｔ ｗａｓ." He said as he gazed at the ring.

"Ａｎｙｗａｙ," Monarch drawls, his attitude making a complete flip as he inspects the ring between two fingers, "ｔｉｍｅ'ｓ ｕｐ, ｋｉｄ. Ｓｏｒｒｙ."

"W-Wait!" Ruby shouts quickly.

Ruby isn't sure why she's not running. Perhaps the thought of the plan failing because of her didn't sit right, or maybe it was the persistent voices that urged her on that made her stay.

"H-How about an information trade? I can tell you more about Glynda Goodwitch, things I've learned while enduring all of this with her. Things that Ozpin and King didn't know about her." Ruby hastily says.

Monarch scoffs at her. "Ｈｕｈ? Ｗｈａｔ ｔｈｅ ＨＥＬＬ? Ｗｈａｔ ｓｏｒｔ ｏｆ ｉｎｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｙｏｕ ｈａｖｅ ｔｈａｔ Ｉ ＤＯＮ'Ｔ?"

At this point the only thing Ruby can think of is the plan. It all hinges on her success in getting Monarch to the tower. She cannot mess up this time. It's not just her own life on the line here...

Taking a deep breath Ruby clenches her eyes shut and raises her voice, speaking quickly before Monarch decides to end her life right then and there.

"I am a human being! I understand her feelings better than you! I can give you information about her, so you can understand, too! Meet me at the top floor of the CCT and we'll trade! Info for info!" Ruby bowed her head, her voice ragged and tears trickling down her face at the implications of failure. "You have nothing to lose and everything to gain."

Ruby hears Monarchs footsteps approach, anxiety tightening in her chest.

"Ａ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ ｆｏｒ ａ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ ｕｎｔｉｌ ｗｅ ｒｕｎ ＯＵＴ." Monarch states absently. "ＣＣＴ ｉｎ ｆｉｆｔｅｅｎ ｍｉｎｕｔｅｓ, Ｉ ｗｉｌｌ ｂｅ ＴＨＥＲＥ."

He walks past her and further still until Ruby no longer hears his footsteps.

Ruby gasps, unknowingly having held her breath in that moment. Her breathing is haggard and she clutches her chest as the fear inside eventually fades away.

**Make sure you still have your hat.**

Thankfully, the hat is still nearby. With shaky hands she picks it up and puts it back on.

She'd better get going to the CCT...and think of some questions to ask for Monarch. She has no idea how long it will take 3D to get the dragon there, so she needs to make the info trade last to buy time.

For once she hopes the voices in her head won't fail her. She'll need all the help she can get.


	45. Smothered Mate

**A/N: WHAM! Here's the whole segment of the Smothered Mate plan in action. Doc says 6k words cuz it doesn't like wide text, Word tells me it's about 10k. So that's like ten chapters worth, if we go by my lame 1k words per chapter rule xD Enjoy Quest while it lasts kiddos, because we will soon reach its end. Look at this baby, all grown up and off to break thousands of hearts. *sniffles***

* * *

Ruby arrives at the CCT. It's huge, as usual. Huge, but unusually quiet. She remembers the area bustling with activity, seemingly never vacant. She passes through the doorways and stands alone in the bare lobby. It's been abandoned.

Ruby enters the elevator in some faint hope that it will work normally. The doors snap shut behind her. She looks over to a panel on the wall. This panel would usually politely ask for a floor and identification...Now, it is quiet.

It remains silent for many long seconds, before letting out a loud, keening whine, distinctly mechanic, but hauntingly reminiscent of the usual voice. The robotic whine is quickly cut short by a violent crackle in the speakers, followed by a voice.

"Ｏｈ ｈｅｙ ｔｈｅｒｅ ｐｒｉｎｃｅｓｓ ＲＵＢＹ!" Monarch sounds so enthusiastic, it's somewhat unsettling with the current atmosphere. "Ｙｏｕ ｇｏｉｎ' ＵＰ? Ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ ｙｏｕ ＡＲＥ?" The elevator shudders slightly in its ascent.

Ruby hopes Monarch would remain quiet after this. She hopes for too much.

"Ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ ｎｏｒｍａｌｌｙ ｔｈｉｓ ｔｈｉｎｇ ｗｏｕｌｄ ａｓｋ ｆｏｒ ｙｏｕｒ ＩＤ, ｂｕｔ Ｉ'ｍ ｇｏｎｎａ ｌｅｔ ｙａ ｕｐ ｈｅｒｅ ＡＮＹＷＡＹ."

The speakers crackle like Ruby has never heard before, as though technology itself is displeased by Monarch's presence. Still, he won't shut up.

"Ｈｅｙ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｂａｃｋ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｄａｙ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ Ｏｚｐｉｎ ｒｕｉｎｅｄ ＥＶＥＲＹＴＨＩＮＧ? Ｔｈｉｓ ｐｌａｃｅ ｗａｓ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｓｕｐｅｒ ｃｒｏｗｄｅｄ, ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ＬＩＶＥＬＹ. Ｇｏｏｄ ＴＩＭＥＳ! Ｔｈａｎｋｓ ａ ｌｏｔ ＯＺＰＩＮ!"

Ruby listens as he prattles on. It's strange to hear these words in a voice that sounds so much like Ozpin himself. She doesn't say anything in response, though she doubts he would entertain her with a response anyways.

Eventually, the elevator slows, stops, and opens. He is waiting for her.

All of the furniture in the room has been thrown to the wall in a heap of mangled metal, apart from a single table in the middle and a pair of chairs; Monarch is seated in one of them.

"Ｏｈ, ｙｏｕ'ｒｅ ＨＥＲＥ. ＨＥＬＬＯ."

Ruby takes a seat across from him while Monarch patiently watches her.

"Ｉ ｗｉｌｌ ｍａｋｅ ｔｈｉｓ ｑｕｉｃｋ: ｔｈｅ ｔｅｒｍｓ ａｒｅ ａｓ ＦＯＬＬＯＷＳ.

1: Ａｌｌ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎｓ ａｒｅ ｔｏ ｂｅ ＡＮＳＷＥＲＥＤ.

2: Ａｌｌ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎｓ ａｒｅ ｔｏ ｂｅ ａｎｓｗｅｒｅｄ ｃｌｅａｒｌｙ, ｗｉｔｈｏｕｔ ｌｉｅｓ ｏｒ ＴＲＩＣＫＳ.

3: Ｏｎｌｙ ｏｎｅ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ ｉｎ ａ ｔｕｒｎ-ｗａｉｔ ｕｎｔｉｌ ｎｅｘｔ ｔｕｒｎ ｆｏｒ ＦＯＬＬＯＷ-ＵＰＳ. Ｃｌａｒｉｆｉｃａｔｉｏｎ ｗｉｌｌ ｂｅ ｊｕｄｇｅｄ ｃａｓｅ ｂｙ ＣＡＳＥ."

"Conditions accepted. But..." Ruby wants to make sure he doesn't see BQS. He has to be focused on something else. "Monarch...I challenge you to a game of chess!"

"...ＣＨＥＳＳ?" He regards her with amusement. "Ｅｈ, ｗｈｙ ｎｏｔ ｐｌａｙ ａ ＧＡＭＥ. Ｉ'ｌｌ ＢＩＴＥ." He leans an elbow on the table, resting his cheek in his hand. "Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｈａｖｅ ａ ＢＯＡＲＤ? Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗｏｒｒｙ ａｂｏｕｔ ｉｔ, Ｉ'ｍ ｏｎ ＩＴ."

In a flash of blue light, Monarch conjures a chessboard...but when the light fades, Ruby is startled by the pieces' appearances. Familiar faces are set up on both sides.

Ruby's pieces play as such:

KING: Ruby, QUEEN: Weiss, BISHOPS: Blake &amp; Velvet, KNIGHTS: 3D [kingside] &amp; Nora, ROOKS: Ren &amp; Pyrrha.

Monarch's pieces depicted some of the professors and well known entities they've encountered:

KING: Monarch, QUEEN: Glynda, BISHOPS: Port &amp; Oobleck, KNIGHTS: WQ &amp; BRK, ROOKS: PSQ &amp; ZBQ.

All of the pawns are generic faceless figures wearing Beacon's student uniform. Ruby is certain that he is trying to psych her out.

It's working.

"Ｉ'ｌｌ ｐｌａｙ ｂｌａｃｋ, ｓｏ ｙｏｕ ｇｏ ＦＩＲＳＴ. Ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎｓ, ａｓ ＷＥＬＬ. Ｇｏ ＯＮ."

Ruby looks at the board in discomfort, moving her hand to one of the pawns. "What are you planning?" As she's about to touch the piece it holds a hand up to stop her. Ruby jerks her hand back in surprise.

"Ｏｈ, ｓｏｒｒｙ, ｔｈｅｙ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｔｏｕｃｈｅｄ, ｓｏ ｓｉｍｐｌｙ ａｎｎｏｕｎｃｅ ｙｏｕｒ ＭＯＶＥ." King clarified.

"...E2 to E4, then." Ruby calls. "Oh..." The piece moves on its own, quickly going where Ruby ordered.

"Ａｎｙｗａｙ, ｔｈｅ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ..." Monarch continues. "Ｍｙ ｐｌａｎ ｉｓ ＳＩＭＰＬＥ. Ｔｗｏ ＳＴＥＰＳ.

1: Ｄｅｓｔｒｏｙ ａｌｌ ｔｈａｔ ｄｗｅｌｌｓ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｆａｉｌｅｄ ＷＯＲＬＤ.

2: Ｒｅｂｕｉｌｄ ａｎｄ ＳＵＣＣＥＥＤ.

Ｅ7-Ｅ5."

"Ok. Your turn." Ruby says.

"Ｔｈａｔ ｗｒｅｃｋ ｏｆ ａ ｗｏｍａｎ, Ｇｏｏｄｗｉｔｃｈ; ｗｈｙ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｓｈｅ ｒｕｎ ｗｉｔｈ ＹＯＵ?"

Ruby gazed down at the board forlornly. "She felt responsible for us. She wanted to protect us."

"...Ａｔｔａｃｈｍｅｎｔ." Monarch stated thoughtfully. "Ｉ ｓｅｅ. Ｙｏｕｒ ｔｕｒｎ."

"F2 to F4. How are you going to get anything done while stuck inside the dome?"

"Ｏｈ, ＲＵＢＹ..." He says with a derisive smirk, "ｙｏｕ'ｒｅ ｎｏｔ ｈｏｎｅｓｔｌｙ ｔｈｉｓ ｎａｉｖｅ, ＲＩＧＨＴ?"

"Ｅ5-Ｆ4." The pawn shifts, a knife in its hand as it turns toward its destination. "Ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ, ｗｈｅｎ Ｉ ａｍ ｄｏｎｅ ｈｅｒｅ, Ｉ ｗｉｌｌ ｓｉｍｐｌｙ..." His pawn strikes out at Ruby's, brutally murdering the piece. "...ｔｕｒｎ ｔｈｅ ｄｏｍｅ ＯＦＦ." His pawn stows its weapon away, then takes its place in the previous pawn's spot. "...ａｎｄ ＬＥＡＶＥ." Monarch's says with a satisfied air.

"...Right. Of course." Ruby watches anxiously as the defeated pawn dissipates off the board in a distorted light blue glow. "Y-Your turn...and...F1 to C4..."

The Velvet piece seems to move nervously across the board. Ruby sympathizes with it.

"Ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ, ｔｈａｔ ｂｏｙ- Ｌｉｅ Ｒｅｎ- ｉｆ ｔｈｅｒｅ ｉｓ ｓｕｃｈ ａ ｔｈｉｎｇ ａｓ ａｔｔａｃｈｍｅｎｔ, ｗｈｙ ｄｉｄ ｈｅ ｋｉｌｌ ｔｈａｔ ＧＩＲＬ?"

Ruby rubs her forehead, trying her best to only concentrate on the game and block out images of their last encounter with Nora. She fights back the tears threatening to spill over making her voice shaky.

"B-because...of attachment. H-He didn't want her to s-suffer...anymore, because he loved her."

"Ａｔｔａｃｈｍｅｎｔ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ｐｏｉｎｔ ｏｆ ｍｕｒｄｅｒ..." Monarch said in disgust, a forked tongue sticking out in distaste at the concept. "Ｗｈｙ ａｎｙｏｎｅ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｓｕｂｊｅｃｔ ｔｈｅｍｓｅｌｖｅｓ ｔｏ ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ ｂｅｙｏｎｄ ＭＥ."

"Ｄ8-Ｈ4." He said, his Queen Glynda piece moving to the spot with cold indifference.

"Ｃｈｅｃｋ." As he said this spikes protruded from the piece's hands, aimed straight for the exposed King Ruby. "Ｙｏｕｒ ＴＵＲＮ."

Mini Ruby looked anxious, it made Ruby herself wonder if her nervousness passed on to the small figure or vice-versa. "Why do you think this world is garbage? E1 to F1."

Mini Ruby moved aside, the Glynda piece now losing sight of its prey retracted its claws and reset to a neutral position. Mini Ruby seemed a bit relieved.

"...Ｉｔ ｉｓ ａ ｆａｉｌｅｄ ｒｅｓｕｌｔ. Ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ Ｏｚｐｉｎ ｈａｓ ｍａｄｅ ｈａｓ ｎｏ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｔｏ ｂｅ. Ｉｔ ｉｓ ａ ｆａｉｌｅｄ ａｔｔｅｍｐｔ ａｔ ｆｕｌｆｉｌｌｉｎｇ ｓｏｍｅ ｄｅｌｕｓｉｏｎａｌ ｆａｎｔａｓｙ ｏｆ ｈｉｓ; ｉｔｓ ｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅ ｉｓ ａ ＣＲＩＭＥ. ＡＮ ＥＲＲＯＲ."

"Ｇ7-Ｇ5."

Monarch continues his monologue, his voice distorting more strongly with certain words he says.

"Ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ'ｓ ｂｉｒｔｈ ｉｓ ｈｉｓ ｍｉｓｔａｋｅ. Ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｔｈａｔ ｌｉｖｅｓ ｉｎ ｉｔ ｉｓ ＨＩＳ ＭＩＳＴＡＫＥ. Ｅｖｅｎ ｔｈｏｕｇｈ, Ｉ, ａｌｓｏ, ａｍ ｈｉｓ ＭＩＳＴＡＫＥ. ＮＯ ＲＩＧＨＴ ＴＯ ＢＥ, ｅｖｅｎ ｓｏ, ＥＶＥＮ ＳＯ, ＩＴ ＩＳ ＭＹ ＴＡＳＫ, ＭＹ ＲＥＳＰＯＮＳＩＩＢＩＬＩＴＹ, ｔｏ ｃｏｒｒｅｃｔ ｈｉｓ ＥＲＲＯＲ."

Monarch settles down somewhat, his voice coming out much clearer after a brief reprieve.

"...Ｉ ｃａｎｎｏｔ ｃｏｒｒｅｃｔ ｍｙ ｏｗｎ ｂｅｉｎｇ. Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ａ ｄｕｔｙ ｔｏ ｆｕｌｆｉｌｌ...Ｃｌｅａｎ ｕｐ ｔｈｅ ｆａｉｌｅｄ ｔｒａｓｈ."

Ruby sees Monarch trembling with restrained rage, his glare piercing spikes into Ruby's skull. Hastily, Ruby moves things along in hopes of distracting him from his rage.

"Ok, ok! Your turn!" She says hastily.

"...Ｔｈｅ ｏｎｅ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ ｃａｔ ｅａｒｓ, ＢＬＡＫＥ. Ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ, ｗｈｙ ｄｏｅｓ ｓｈｅ ｒｅｍａｉｎ ａｔｔａｃｈｅｄ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ｔｈｉｎｇ ｔｈａｔ ｒｅｐｌａｃｅｄ ｈｅｒ ＰＡＲＴＮＥＲ?"

"Just because Yang no longer exists in that body doesn't mean Blake has forgotten Yang." Ruby says. "She sees Yang in 3D, and keeps having faith that Yang will return. At the same time, Blake understands that this is not 3D's fault. B1 to C3."

Ruby watches her Knight Nora approaches the location with prideful strides, a confident expression on her face. It reminds her so much of the real Nora, painfully so.

"...Ａｔｔａｃｈｍｅｎｔ ｂｅｙｏｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｌｉｍｉｔｓ ｏｆ ＥＸＩＳＴＮＣＥ." Monarch says with a grimace. "Ｆ8-Ｇ7. Ｙｏｕｒ ＴＵＲＮ."

"D2 to D4- have you attacked any other entities, besides TTSE?"

"Ｂ8-Ｃ6. ＹＥＳ."

Knight WQ moves forward, giving a noncommittal shrug when she reaches her post.

"Ｔｈｅ ｇｉｒｌ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｅｙｅｓ- Ｗｅｉｓｓ- ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ, ｗｈｙ ｄｉｄ ｓｈｅ ｂｕｒｎ, ＦＬＡＲＥ, ｓｏ ｂｒｉｇｈｔｌｙ ａｓ ｔｏ ａｆｆｅｃｔ ａｌｌ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｕｐｏｎ ｈｅｒ ＴＵＲＮＩＮＧ?"

"I actually can't say for certain, but she's always been pretty strong-willed and, uh... stubborn... I don't see her going out quietly. Flaring up like that would be just like her. She's pretty...temperamental." Ruby says with a half-hearted smile.

Just thinking about Weiss made Ruby feel a bit better, but she had to stay focused, keep her mind on the game.

"G1 to F3."

This put Knight 3D into motion, the tiny version of the entity moved to her position, leap frogging over mini Ruby on her way.

"Why did Ozpin make the dome?"

For once Monarch didn't look at her like she was an idiot.

"Ｈ4-Ｈ5. Ｔｈｅ ｄｏｍｅ ｉｓ ａｎ ｅｍｅｒｇｅｎｃｙ ｓｅｃｕｒｉｔｙ ｍｅａｓｕｒｅ. Ｉｔ ｅｘｉｓｔｅｄ ｌｏｎｇ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ Ｏｚｐｉｎ'ｓ ｆａｉｌｅｄ ｗｏｒｌｄ. Ｉｔ ｍａｋｅｓ ｔｈｅ ｓｃｈｏｏｌ ａ ｓａｆｅ ｈａｖｅｎ, ｕｎｔｏｕｃｈａｂｌｅ ｔｏ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｔｈａｔ ｍａｙ ｏｃｃｕｒ ｏｕｔｓｉｄｅ...ａｎｄ ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ, ｉｎ ｅｆｆｅｃｔ, ｍａｋｅｓ ｔｈｅ ｏｕｔｓｉｄｅ ｕｎｔｏｕｃｈａｂｌｅ ｔｏ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｉｎ ｈｅｒｅ...ｉｔ ｉｓ ａ ＳＨＩＥＬＤ, ａ ＳＥＡＬ, ａ ＱＵＡＲＡＮＴＩＮＥ, ａ ＰＲＯＴＥＣＴＩＯＮ." Monarch grinned then. "Ｉｔ ｗａｓｎ'ｔ ｍａｄｅ ｓｐｅｃｉｆｉｃａｌｌｙ ｆｏｒ ｔｈｉｓ ｅｖｅｎｔ, ｂｕｔ ｉｔ ｓｕｒｅ ｃａｍｅ ｉｎ ｈａｎｄｙ, ＥＨ?"

Monarch shifted in his seat, procuring Glynda's ring and holding it before him.

"Ｓｏ ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ, ｔｈａｔ Ｇｌｙｎｄａ Ｇｏｏｄｗｉｔｃｈ, ｗｈｙ ｄｉｄ ｓｈｅ ｋｅｅｐ ｔｈｉｓ ｒｉｎｇ?"

"That's...attachment, again." Ruby said. "Like Blake and 3D, her bond with professor Ozpin goes past bounds of existence. That ring was a symbol of that bond. No, it is a memento of the good that once was. She couldn't bring herself to get rid of something so important." She explained.

The mention of the ring brings up a question Ruby had thought of when Monarch revealed how he acquired it.

"Do you... understand why she gave you that ring? C3 to D5."

Monarch looked sullen as he answered.

"Ｉ... Ｎｏ, Ｉ ｏｎｌｙ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈａｔ ｓｈｅ ｔｏｌｄ ｍｅ... 'Ｐｌｅａｓｅ ｔａｋｅ ｍｙ ｒｉｎｇ. Ｉ ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｗａｎｔ ｉｔ ｔｏ ｒｏｔ ｗｉｔｈ ｍｙ ｂｏｄｙ.'"

Suddenly a look of realization crosses Monarch's features.

"...Ｗａｉｔ. 'Ａ ｍｅｍｅｎｔｏ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｇｏｏｄ ｔｈａｔ ｏｎｃｅ ｗａｓ.' 'Ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｓａｙ Ｉ ｄｅｓｅｒｖｅ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｈｅｒｅ, ｔｈｅｎ ｌｅｔ ｔｈｅ ｒｉｎｇ ｂｅ ａ ｒｅｐｒｅｓｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎ ｏｆ ｍｅ.'" Monarch recollected aloud. "Ａ ｍｅｍｏｒｙ ｏｆ ｈｅｒ."

Monarch stares at the ring now resting in his palm.

"...Ｔｈｅｎ ｔｈｅ ｒｅａｓｏｎ ｉｓ...ｓｈｅ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｆｏｒｇｏｔｔｅｎ...?" Monarch said with sudden clarity.

Monarch then made a motion of wiping at his eyes, a grimace on his face.

"ＳＴＵＰＩＤ. Ｓｈｅ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｅｖｅｎ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｂｅ ＡＬＩＶＥ, ｌｅｔ ａｌｏｎｅ ＲＥＭＥＭＢＥＲＥＤ."

Monarch clenched his hand closed, irritation lacing his tone.

"Ｅ8-Ｄ8. Ｒｕｂｙ, ｗｈａｔ ａｒｅ ｔｈｅ ＣＯＮＤＩＴＩＯＮＳ ＲＥＱＵＩＲＥＤ ｔｏ ｃｒｅａｔｅ ＬＯＶＥ?"

Ruby rubbed the back of her head, unsure of how to approach the question. "That's... Uh- well, it's not an exact science, you know. It's different for everyone."

Monarch nods in understanding, patiently listening to Ruby's explanation.

"Most of the time, it involves spending time with the person, and getting to know them! You realize that you care about them. You understand them. You want to protect them. Suddenly, their happiness means the world to you. It isn't something that is simply "created"; it grows and matures over time."

Ruby ponders over the chess board, thinking over the things Monarch had said prior to his question.

"From what you said, it sounds like you had the chance to talk to Glynda. How did you get her to calmly talk to you? She looked pretty angry when we left. C2 to C3."

Monarch's features seemed strained, perhaps reminiscing his time with Glynda.

"Ａｎｇｒｙ? Ｄｅｆｉｎｉｔｅｌｙ. Ｉ ｋｉｌｌｅｄ ｈｅｒ. Ａｆｔｅｒ ｔｈａｔ, Ｉ ｕｓｅｄ ａ ｒｅｗｉｎｄ ｔｏ ｔｅｍｐｏｒａｒｉｌｙ ｒｅｓｕｒｒｅｃｔ ｈｅｒ. Ｉ ｈａｄ ｓｏｍｅ ｔｈｉｎｇｓ Ｉ ｗａｎｔｅｄ ｔｏ ｓａｙ ｔｏ ｈｅｒ."

"Ｓｈｅ ｗｏｋｅ ｕｐ, ｉｎｓｔａｎｔｌｙ ｏｎ ｅｄｇｅ, ｒｅａｄｙ ｔｏ ＦＩＧＨＴ. Ｓｈｅ ｗａｓ...ｌｉｖｉｄ. Ｌｉｖｉｄ ｂｕｔ ａｌｉｖｅ. Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｓｈｅ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｈａｖｅ ｈａｎｄｌｅｄ ａｎｙ ｒａｇｅ Ｉ ｔｈｒｅｗ ａｔ ｈｅｒ."

"Ｙｏｕ ｗｅｒｅ ＲＩＧＨＴ.' Ｉ ｓａｉｄ ｔｏ ｈｅｒ. Ｂｕｔ ｓｈｅ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｈｏｗ ｔｏ ｒｅｓｐｏｎｄ ｔｏ ｇｅｎｔｌｅ ｗｏｒｄｓ."

_"Ｔｈｉｓ_ _ｗｈｏｌｅ_ _ｆｕｃｋｉｎｇ_ _ｔｈｉｎｇ_ _ｗａｓ_ _ｄｏｏｍｅｄ_ _ｆｒｏｍ_ _ｄａｙ_ _ＯＮＥ__. __Ｙｏｕ_ _ｗｅｒｅ_ _ｒｉｇｈｔ_ _ａｌｌ_ _ａｌｏｎｇ__." __Monarch said calmly to Glynda._

_ "Even so, I didn't do anything about it. This all happened because I didn't say anything. It is just as much my fault." __Glynda replied melancholic._

Monarch gazed to the side solemnly, his third eye closed.

"...Ｉ ｋｅｐｔ ｔｅｌｌｉｎｇ ｈｅｒ, Ｉ ｓａｉｄ, 'ｉｔ ｗａｓｎ'ｔ ｙｏｕｒ ｆａｕｌｔ'... 'Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｂｅａｔ ｙｏｕｒｓｅｌｆ ｕｐ ｏｖｅｒ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｅｌｓｅ'ｓ ｆａｉｌｕｒｅｓ'... 'Ｙｏｕ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｄｅｓｅｒｖｅ ｔｈｉｓ, ｙｏｕ ｄｅｓｅｒｖｅｄ ｓｏ ｍｕｃｈ ｍｏｒｅ'."

"Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｅｖｅｎ ｋｎｏｗ ｉｆ ｓｈｅ ｂｅｌｉｅｖｅｄ ｍｅ, ｂｕｔ ｍｙ ｗｏｒｄｓ ｊｕｓｔ ｋｅｐｔ ｃｏｍｉｎｇ, ａｓ ｔｈｏｕｇｈ Ｉ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｄｉｅ ｉｆ Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｓａｙ ｔｈｅｍ. Ｓｈｅ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｄｅｓｅｒｖｅ ｔｈｉｓ. Ｉｆ ｔｈｅｒｅ ｗａｓ ａｎｙｏｎｅ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ ｔｈａｔ ｄｅｓｅｒｖｅｄ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ, ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｈｅｒ."

* * *

_"You cared enough to revive me, just to tell me this?" Glynda said with disbelief._

_"__Ｉ_ _ｊｕｓｔ_ _ｗａｎｔｅｄ_ _ｔｏ_ _ｔａｌｋ_ _ｆｏｒ_ _ａ_ _ｗｈｉｌｅ__, __ａｎｄ_ _ｔｅｌｌ_ _ｙｏｕ_ _ｔｈｏｓｅ_ _ｔｈｉｎｇｓ__. __Ｔｈａｔ__'__ｓ_ _ａｌｌ__." _

_"That's all?"_

_"__Ｔｈａｔ__'__ｓ_ _ａｌｌ__."_

_"What... I... Were you... Hoping to let me rest in peace? To tell me it wasn't my fault?"_

_"...__Ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ_ _ｌｉｋｅ_ _ｔｈａｔ__."_

_"...I can't believe I'm saying this… but... thank you."_

* * *

Monarch finished his retelling of the conversation between Glynda and himself. The whole thing left Ruby reeling with more questions.

"Wait, wait, wait, what?" Ruby held up her hands. "You... brought her _back_? But... I mean... She was pretty... d-dead... What's going on with that?" Ruby was at a loss with the story.

"Ｇ8-Ｆ6." Knight BRK seemingly teleports at the spot, no show of flair or bravado whatsoever. "...Ａｃｃｅｐｔｅｄ ａｓ ｃｌａｒｉｆｉｃａｔｉｏｎ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ."

"D5 to F6."

Knight Nora moves in for the kill, hefting up her giant sword with one swing to sever BRK's head clean off in a spray of blood, smiling all the while.

"Ｒｅｗｉｎｄ ｉｓ ｎｏｔ ｐｅｒｍａｎｅｎｔ. Ｅｓｐｅｃｉａｌｌｙ ｗｈｅｎ ｕｓｅｄ ｏｎ ｌｉｖｉｎｇ ｔｈｉｎｇｓ, ｉｔ ｗｅａｒｓ ｏｆｆ ｑｕｉｃｋ. Ｉ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｌｅｔ ｈｅｒ ｆａｔｅ ｒｅｐｅａｔ ｉｔｓｅｌｆ, ａ ｐａｉｎｆｕｌ ｄｅａｔｈ ａｇａｉｎ. Ｉ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｄｉｓｐｅｌ ｔｈｅ ｒｅｗｉｎｄ ｍｙｓｅｌｆ, ａ ｐａｉｎｌｅｓｓ ｄｅａｔｈ. Ｉ ｌｅｔ ｈｅｒ ｃｈｏｏｓｅ."

"Ｓｈｅ ｔｏｌｄ ｍｅ,"

* * *

_"If you want me to rest in peace, then I humbly request that you end me now. But…I ask one thing, Monarch." With trembling hands Glynda removes her ring. _

_She takes Monarch's hand and pulls it towards her, placing the ring into his hand. "Please, take my ring. I do not want it to rot with my body." _

_Glynda leans forward and held Monarch in an embrace. "Thank you…Now please, before time runs out."_

_"...Ｏｋ. " __Monarch held onto the ring, as if it were a lifeline. __"Ｒｅｓｔ ｉｎ Ｐｅａｃｅ, Ｇｌｙｎｄａ."_

* * *

"Ｌｏｎｇ ｓｔｏｒｙ ｓｈｏｒｔ, Ｉ ｋｉｌｌｅｄ ｈｅｒ ａｇａｉｎ." Monarch said stoically.

"Ｇ7-Ｆ6."

The Bishop Port piece moves, a spear at the ready as he thrusts it through Nora's torso brutally.

"Ｓｏ, Ｒｕｂｙ..." Monarch pauses, gauging Ruby's expression. "Yｏｕｒ ｔｕｒｎ."

Ruby swallowed uneasily, her throat feeling dry and her skin was clammy.

She needs to think of more questions. 3D and the dragon can't be far away, but she has to stall a little bit more, no matter how unnerved she is.

When Ruby watched the skewered and bloodied Nora slowly dissipate. The voices remind her that this is all just a game, and none of it is real.

_That's right. Just…just a game. I have to calm down…_

However, she can't help but let a look of anxiety overcome her features. It's not easy to watch her friends die, and this was the second time she had to witness Nora's death. Real or not, the effect was still the same.

Ruby inhaled deeply, settling her nerves as much as she could before continuing the game.

"E4 to E5; How do you turn off the dome?"

"Ｕｐ ｉｎ ｔｈａｔ ｔｏｗｅｒ, ａｂｏｖｅ ｈｉｓ ｏｆｆｉｃｅ, Ｏｚｐｉｎ ｐｌａｃｅｄ ｔｈｅ ｍｅｃｈａｎｉｓｍ. Ｔｏ ｔｕｒｎ ｏｆｆ ｔｈｅ ｄｏｍｅ, ｙｏｕ ｓｉｍｐｌｙ ｓｗｉｔｃｈ ｉｔ ｏｆｆ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅｒｅ. Ｉｔ'ｓ ｅａｓｙ!"

Monarch regarded her with a coy smile, lacing his fingers together in front of him; his tone laced with amusement.

"Ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ, ｙｏｕ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｈａｖｅ ｔｏ ｗｏｒｒｙ ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈａｔ. Ｉ ｍｅａｎ... ｙｏｕ'ｒｅ ｎｏｔ ｇｏｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｏｐｅｎｉｎｇ ｉｔ."

"Ｆ6-Ｇ7."

Bishop Port piece moved back a square, standing somberly between two pawns, and was also near the Rook.

"Ｓｏ ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ, ｗｈｙ ｄｉｄ ｔｈａｔ Ｇｏｏｄｗｉｔｃｈ ｗｏｍａｎ ｓｔａｙ, ｅｖｅｎ ａｓ ｏｔｈｅｒｓ ａｂａｎｄｏｎｅｄ ＢＥＡＣＯＮ?"

Ruby frowned slightly, her brows creased in uncertainty, but she was sure her answer was what compelled the professor to stay.

"Loyalty, respect, faith; most, if not all, of our teachers really respected Professor Ozpin. Some would loyally follow him to the world's end, I'm sure... Glynda too. She believed in him."

"H2 to H4. How were the entities created?"

Monarch held a hand out, palm facing upwards, as he began to explain.

"Ｗｉｔｈ ａ ｂｕｎｃｈ ｏｆ ＵＮＨＯＬＹ ＳＣＩＥＮＣＥ, ｍｏｓｔｌｙ."

A blue light glimmered above his palm, a mug with Beacon's insignia appeared. Monarch gripped it in his hand promptly.

"Ｂｉｔｓ ａｎｄ ｂｏｂｓ, Ｉ ｓｕｐｐｏｓｅ. Ｈｅ ｃｏｌｌｅｃｔｅｄ ｓａｍｐｌｅｓ ｏｆｆ ｏｆ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ, ｂａｃｔｅｒｉａ, Ｇｒｉｍｍ..." Monarch raised the mug towards his mouth, waving his other hand dismissively as he continued. "Ｗｉｔｈ ａ ｂｉｔ ｏｆ ｇｏｏｄ ｗｉｌｌ ａｎｄ ｇｏｏｄ ｓｃｉｅｎｃｅ, ｉｔ ｔｕｒｎｅｄ ｉｎｔｏ ｑｕｉｔｅ ｔｈｅ ｖｏｌａｔｉｌｅ ＳＵＢＳＴＡＮＣＥ. Ｉｔ ａｐｐｅａｒｅｄ ｔｏ ｗｏｒｋ...ｆｏｒ ａ ｗｈｉｌｅ. Ｔｕｒｎｓ ｏｕｔ ｔｈｅ ａｕｇｍｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎ ｃａｔａｌｙｓｔ ｗａｓ ａ ｂｉｔ ｔｏｏ... ａｇｇｒｅｓｓｉｖｅ."

Monarch brought the mug to his lips, taking an audible sip from it. Ruby didn't see him create any type of liquid in it, maybe she just didn't notice it.

"Ｔｈｅ ｆｉｒｓｔ ｄｉｓａｐｐｅａｒａｎｃｅ ａｔ Ｂｅａｃｏｎ ｗａｓ ｎｏｔ ａｎ ａｃｃｉｄｅｎｔ, ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ. Ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｅｘｅｃｕｔｉｏｎ."

"Ｆ7-Ｆ6. Ｔｈａｔ Ｉｄｉｏｔ, ＯＺＰＩＮ. Ｗｈｙ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｈｅ ｄｅｄｉｃａｔｅ ｈｉｓ ｆｉｎａｌ ｗｏｒｄｓ ｔｏ ｈｅｒ, ｗｈｅｎ ｈｅ, ｈｉｍｓｅｌｆ, ｗａｓ ＳＵＦＦＥＲＩＮＧ?"

"F1 to G1."

Ruby loosely held her arm, feeling a bit anxious. She had to admit that seeing Monarch drink out of the mug so nonchalantly bothered her. The gesture reminded her too much of Ozpin, and with Monarch looking so much like the old headmaster, it wasn't easing Ruby's nerves at all.

"Love." She answered plainly. Monarch hummed and nodded absentmindedly, prompting Ruby to ask her next question.

"How do you revert an entity to its human form?"

"Ｂｉｇ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ. ＯＫ. Ｉ ｗｉｌｌ ｔｒｙ ｔｏ ＥＸＰＬＡＩＮ."

"Ｌｅｔ'ｓ ｓａｙ, ｉｎ ｅａｓｙ ｔｅｒｍ, ｔｈａｔ ｅｖｅｒｙ ｐｅｒｓｏｎ ｅｘｉｓｔｉｎｇ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ ｆｉｌｌｓ ａ 'ＳＬＯＴ' ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｕｎｉｖｅｒｓｅ, .ｌｉｋｅ ａ ｂｌｏｃｋ ｏｆ ｄａｔａ ｉｎ ａ ｐｒｏｇｒａｍ. Ａｎｄ, ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ, ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｏｎｌｙ ｅｖｅｒ ｊｕｓｔ ｅｎｏｕｇｈ 'ＳＬＯＴＳ' ｔｏ ｈｏｌｄ ｅｖｅｒｙ ｃｕｒｒｅｎｔ ｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅ- ＮＯ ＭＯＲＥ."

"Ａｔ ｉｍｍｏｌａｔｉｏｎ- ｔｈｅ ｔｕｒｎｉｎｇ- ｔｈａｔ 'ＤＡＴＡ' ｉｓ ｙａｎｋｅｄ ｏｕｔ ｏｆ ｉｔｓ 'ＳＬＯＴ'. Ｉｔ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｍａｋｅ ａ ｎｅｗ 'ＳＬＯＴ'. Ｉｔ ｊｕｓｔ ｒｅｐｌａｃｅｓ ｐｒｅｖｉｏｕｓ ＤＡＴＡ. Ｔｈａｔ 'ＰＲＥＶＩＯＵＳ ＤＡＴＡ' ｉｓ ｓｔｏｒｅｄ ａｓ ａ ｍｅｍｏｒｙ- ｉｔ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ 'ＰＲＯＧＲＡＭ', ｂｕｔ ｉｔ ｃａｎ ｂｅ ＲＥＭＥＲＢＥＲＥＤ."

"...Ｔｈａｔ ＲＥＭＥＭＢＲＡＮＣＥ ｉｓ ＴＨＥ ＫＥＹ ｔｏ ＵＮＤＯＩＮＧ ＴＨＥ ＲＥＰＬＡＣＥＭＥＮＴ. Ａ ＢＡＳＩＣ ＥＮＴＩＴＹ ＯＮＬＹ ＮＥＥＤＳ ＴＯ ＲＥＭＥＭＢＥＲ."

"Ｍａｋｉｎｇ ｔｈｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ ｒｅｃａｌｌ ｉｔｓ ｏｒｉｇｉｎ ｆｏｒｍ ｉｓ ａｌｌ... Ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ, ＣＯＭＰＬＥＸ ＥＮＴＩＴＩＥＳ ｌｉｋｅ ｍｙｓｅｌｆ ｃａｎ ｈａｎｇ ｏｎ ｄｅｓｐｉｔｅ ｋｎｏｗｉｎｇ ｏｕｒ ｏｒｉｇｉｎ. Ｔｏ ｕｓ, ｉｔ ｂｅｃｏｍｅｓ ａ ＣＨＯＩＣＥ."

"Ｓｏ ａｓ ｌｏｎｇ ａｓ ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ ｔｈｅ ｏｒｉｇｉｎ ｆｏｒｍ, ｉｔ'ｓ ｓｍｏｏｔｈ ｓａｉｌｉｎｇ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅｒｅ."

Monarch took another sip from his mug, giving a small shrug at all the information he divulged.

"Ｇ5-Ｇ4. Ｗｈｙ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｋｅｅｐ ｆｉｇｈｔｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｌｉｖｅ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｒｕｉｎｅｄ ｗｏｒｌｄ?"

"F3 to H2."

Knight 3D moves aside, a playful wink and smile on her face. At least she can still be optimistic, whether on a dangerous board or in a perilous reality.

"Hope." Ruby says simply.

"Ｆ6-Ｅ5. Ｃｌａｒｉｆｙ."

Monarch's command pits two pawns against each other, his easily annihilating Ruby's piece.

"Well, y'know... It's just how we are. As, long as a human believes there is hope, they will keep going. Without hope, we would just lie down and die. Feelings like hope are vital to the survival of humanity as a whole."

Ruby's eyes brimmed with tears, her own words making her feel emotional with the memory of glimpsing the outside world and of thoughts to being able to return to it soon.

"...Everything is terrible now, but we keep fighting so that we can see a better day, you know? We believe in and hope for better times...H2 to G4."

Knight 3D moves forward and strikes down a pawn fiercely.

"Ｅ5-Ｄ4."

Monarch's pawn takes out another one of Ruby's.

"C1 to F4."

Bishop Blake moves swiftly as she assassinates Monarch's pawn.

"What does 'success' look like, in your plan?"

Monarch's eyes widened, his pupils seeming to focus on some distant thing, unseen by anybody but himself.

"Ｓｕｃｃｅｓｓ- ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ...ｔｈｉｓ ｄｏｍｅ ｗｉｌｌ ＦＡＬＬ, ｗｉｔｈ ｍｙ [ＲＥＰＡＩＲＥＤ ＷＯＲＬＤ] ｉｎｓｉｄｅ. 'ＳＵＣＣＥＳＳ' ｉｓ 'ＴＨＡＴ ＯＵＴＳＩＤＥ ＷＯＲＬＤ' &amp; ＭＹ ＲＥＰＡＩＲＥＤ ＷＯＲＬＬＤ ＡＳ ＯＮＥ ＷＯＲＬＤＳ."

"Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ＣＡＲＥ ｍｕｃｈ ｉｆ 'ＴＨＡＴ ＷＯＲＬＤ' ａｃｃｅｐｔｓ ＭＩＮＥ ｏｒ ｎｏｔ; ｉｔ ｗｉｌｌ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈａｔ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ＭＡＤＥ."

"ＦＯＲ ＢＥＴＴＥＲ ＯＲ ＷＯＲＳＥ, ＭＹ ＷＯＲＬＤ ＡＮＤ ＴＨＥＩＲＳ ＷＩＬＬ ＢＥ ＯＮＥ ＷＨＯＬＥ."

Monarch's gaze refocuses and he behaves as if his previous state never happened. His voice normalizing to his usual lilt.

"Ｗｈｅｎ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ ｉｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ, ａｎｄ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ ｉｓ ｆｒｅｅ, ｅｖｅｎ ｉｆ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｔｏ ＦＯＲＣＥ ｔｈｅｍ ｔｏ ｃｏｅｘｉｓｔ, ｔｈａｔ ｗｉｌｌ ｂｅ ＳＵＣＣＥＳＳ."

He takes a sip from his mug while regarding the chessboard coolly. "Ｈ8-Ｆ8." Rook Protector flaps its wings eagerly as it maneuvers to its new location.

"Ｗｈａｔ ａｂｏｕｔ ｙｏｕ, Ｒｕｂｙ- ｗｈａｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｓｕｃｃｅｓｓ ｂｅ ｔｏ ｙｏｕ?"

Ruby considers the chessboard for a moment before replying.

Her mind is full of half-formed plans, but...she should be able to...figure something out.

If she wants to win, she'll have to trap Monarch.

_Maybe if I move that piece there, shit, no that won't do, but perhaps if I do this...ugh this is difficult. Hmmm...Oh wait! If I do that, and then this maybe he'll move that piece. I sure hope this works._

She isn't a master of chess, but...she thinks she can do it...with some dumb luck.

"Pulling off the most improbable feats is my specialty...right...? Even if this chess plan calls for the sacrifice of _that _piece." Ruby thought.

Almost as if it sensed her nervous gaze on it, Queen Weiss looks back at her player curiously. Ruby feels somewhat guilty at its naivety to her plan, but she has to do this for their survival.

It's the best idea Ruby can think of from her current position.

Well. Here goes...

"F4 to G5."

Bishop Blake moves forward, situating itself next to the Queen Glynda piece.

"Success, huh? Well... In my ideal 'success', we cure everyone and eliminate the threat that way... Of course, in our success, you, too, have been eliminated." Ruby points to Monarch, who only regards her amusedly while resting his chin on his linked hands.

"Ｎａｔｕｒａｌｌｙ.

Ｃ6-Ｅ7."

Knight WQ moves back to defend her King. So far so good. It seems Ruby's plan is in effect.

"D1 to E2." Queen Weiss moves forward; the bait calls attention to itself.

It doesn't seem to Ruby that Monarch's main goal is to win the chess game; he seems more interested in fucking with her than playing a brilliancy. If she is right, he won't be able to resist the brutal capture of the White Queen, and he may blunder severely.

"Ｆ8-Ｅ8."

Rook Oobleck moves next to his King. The King is trapped. All Ruby has to do is snap the trap shut; the dragon must be close... This checkmate is not just symbolic.

Two moves.

"G4 to E5."

Ruby swallows anxiously; Knight 3D nods to her before moving to its new square.

The White Queen is now in the Black Queen's line of attack. All that left to do is hope Monarch does indeed take the bait.

Ruby decides to ask her final question before Monarch makes his move.

"Would Glynda have wanted you to do this?"

Monarch looks at the chessboard with passive features. He doesn't say or do anything for a while, and Ruby worries that he may have seen through her plan. However a low growl leaves his mouth as he grimaces, calling out the move Ruby hoped to hear.

"Ｈ5-Ｅ2."

Queen Glynda lifts an arm up, summoning a series of purple hued spikes from the board that surge toward Queen Weiss. The White Queen is struck by several points, blood spurting forth from the deep gashes. It is during this that the Black Queen sprints forward, eliciting the White Queen to raise her arms defensively in a feeble move of defense. Spikes protrude from the palms of Queen Glynda's hands as she aims them at the face and abdomen of the White Queen.

"-ｎｏ" Monarch says softly as his Queen takes down the other in brutal fashion.

For a brief moment he had a melancholic look in his eyes, but the expression soon flickered to one of playfulness; a grin on his face.

"-ｓｈｅ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｎｏｔ." Monarch finished with a wag of his forefinger. "Ｉ ｄｏｕｂｔ Ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｒｅｍｉｎｄ ｙｏｕ ｔｈａｔ ｓｈｅ ｄｉｅｄ ｔｏ ｓｔｏｐ ｍｅ."

Ruby meanwhile had flinched at the play. That was a pretty brutal capture, but Ruby keeps her cool, mentally chanting "It's just a game".

Moreover, she has just won.

"E5 to F7-"

Knight 3D begins to move, the miniature Monarch piece appears nervous at the impending move.

"Check-"

Monarch's own features darkened similarly to his mini version, a fazed and disbelieving look on his face.

"Mate."

Mini Monarch looks around him frantically, and the features of his allies change; they now wear wicked grins and have glowing red eyes.

The pieces surround him, and in no time subdue him, pulling him down on his knees, as the 3D piece brandishes a sword at him.

Mini Monarch is trapped and unable to move with Oobleck and Protector holding his arms tightly, while WQ holds his head up so he can look upon his executioner.

**_SMOTHERED MATE_**

As the finishing blow was dealt a loud rumble vibrated through the tower.

The violent vibrations that coursed through their bodies surprised both of them. The strength of them rattling the table and chairs aggressively; the chessboard shook with such force that the pieces had dissipated.

Monarch shot out of his chair and looked about, utter shock etched on his face.

"Ｗａｉ...ＷＨＡＴ ＴＨＥ ＨＥＬＬ?!"

Ruby had remained seated, feeling oddly somber despite the impending collapse of the tower. Slowly, she turned her head to face Monarch, her features indifferent.

"The tower is collapsing, and your reign goes down with it."

Monarch turned to her frantically, pointing a finger at her.

"ＢＵＴ- ｂｕｔ ｔｈａｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｋｉｌｌ ｙｏｕ, ｔｏｏ." He said incredulously.

Ruby smiled solemnly.

"Maybe."

Monarch snarled, apparently not satisfied with Ruby's complete resignation to her fate.

"Ｔｈｅｎ ＤＩＥ!"

The pale blue luminescent energy formed around him again, a fearsome claw reaching out towards her with blinding speed.

He's fast, but this time, Ruby is on guard.

She becomes alight with adrenaline, not willing to go down without a fight. Every muscle ready to act had her quivering like a taut bowstring. Rose petals scattered as Ruby activates her Semblance to unfurl Crescent Rose before her. Monarch's strike impacts her weapon; it rattles her bones, but Crescent Rose takes the brunt of it.

As Monarch prepares a second strike it is deterred by an unlikely force. Black Queen Sword bursts through the floor between them, with 3D clinging onto the dragon's neck. Ruby is filled with relief upon seeing the two, and 3D salutes her with a smile. Monarch watches the scene unfold, his shock only furthering.

3D holds out her hand and Ruby grasps it tightly as she's carried up along with her as the dragon continues its flight. They burst forth from the top of the tower and level out, allowing Ruby to sit behind 3D; she holds her cap all the while so as to not lose it in the strong winds.

3D glances back on the wreckage, rubble falling hap-hazardously to the ground below as the tower falls apart.

"Ｈａｈ- Ｉ'ｄ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｏ ｓｅｅ ｈｉｍ ｇｅｔ ｏｕｔ ｏｆ ｔｈａｔ ａｌｉｖｅ!" she said triumphantly. "Ｏｒ ａｔ ｌｅａｓｔ ｗｉｔｈｏｕｔ, ｌｉｋｅ, 20 ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｂｏｎｅｓ." She added while petting BQS' head, the dragon nuzzling into her touch affectionately.

As the dragon circles lower and lower, Ruby watches the tower crumble. It was...practically shattered. Only debris and twisted metal remains. Ruby can only really hear the air in her ears and the collapsing tower pieces, but she thinks she faintly hears 3D's voice.

She seems to be talking to the dragon... The dragon starts shaking.

"3D? What are you-" The dragon shakes more vehemently. "3D! What are you doing, 3D?" Ruby shouts worriedly.

Ruby reaches out towards her and a bright light begins to emanate around from the scales of the dragon. 3D turns around and smiles, taking her hand as the light becomes more intense.

"Ｃ'ｍｏｎ ｂｕｄｄｙ! Ｔｉｍｅ ｔｏ ｇｏ!"

"-Huh?...Go? Go whe-" 3D leapt off the dragon, pulling Ruby along with her. "Whoaaaaaa!"

During their freefall a burst of heat could be felt behind them, and if Ruby had the time to look she would see BQS immolating, but the ground was approaching quick and she needed to brace herself for a landing.

3D managed to bring Ruby into her arms in a princess carry as she landed on her feet with a sickening crack.

"Dude..." Ruby said somewhat amazed and worried. "Was that sound your leg bones breaking?"

3D had straightened and placed Ruby on the ground. Immediately after her face was held in a grimace as she bent over in pain holding her legs. "Ｏｗ."

She then gives Ruby a thumbs up and a reassuring smile. "Ｄ-Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗｏｒｒｙ Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｉｔ'ｓ ｈｅａｌｉｎｇ." 3D then rises, although her body still trembles from the impact. "Ｃ-Ｃ-Ｃａｎ'ｔ ｓｔｉｃｋ ａｒｏｕｎｄ ｔｈｏ ｇｏｔ ｓｔｕｆｆ ｔｏ ｄｏ. Ｏｎｅ ｓｅｃ."

Ruby follows 3D's gaze, looking towards the sky where BQS was flying. However, instead of the dragon there was an inferno surrounding a much smaller figure slowly being unshrouded, hurtling straight towards them.

"Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗｏｒｒｙ. Ｉ ｇｏｔ ｉｔ. " 3D said confidently as she sprinted towards the figure. "Ｉｔ'ｓ ｏｋａｙ ｔｏ ｐｕｔ ｙｏｕｒ ｆａｉｔｈ ｉｎ ｍｅ!"

3D skipped a few paces forward, catching the figure in her arms and carrying them bridal style.

"P-Pyrrha...!" Ruby said in disbelief.

The girl indeed had come back, though she now had two pointed horns atop her head and a scarred, oddly colored right eye.

"Pyrrha holy fuck!" Ruby shouted with shock and glee.

Ruby strode quickly to the pair, Pyrrha seeming to share the same disbelief as Ruby while 3D smiled on. "Ｈｉ ｂｕｄｄｙ." 3D said to her while catching a small gold crown about to fall on her head.

3D set the girl down and examined the crown she now held in her hands. Ruby and Pyrrha caught up with each other, the cured girl uttering a casual "hello again". 3D held the crown close to her; tears were falling from her eyes as she smiled fondly of the memory of its owner.

Before the two could notice her behavior she detected movement beyond the rubble; familiar friends approached.

"Ｏｈ, Ｈｅｙ-" 3D called their attention by pointing towards the others. "Ｃｈｅｃｋ ｉｔ ｏｕｔ! Ｔｈｅ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｂｕｄｄｉｅｓ ａｒｅ ｈｅｒｅ."

Ruby turned towards them, proudly introducing the new figure among them. "Look who it is!"

"Pyrrha?!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Whoa." Blake said with surprise.

However their reunion would be cut short, as 3D caught sight of a familiar light blue energy snaking around a pile of debris.

"Ｔｈｉｓ ｉｓ ｎｏｔ ｏｖｅｒ." She thought as she gazed fiercely towards the glow. "...Ｉ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔ ｉｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｅｎｄ ｕｐ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈｉｓ, Ｄａｄ-" She held up King's crown, regarding it with a sad smile. "Ｂｕｔ ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｏｋａｙ."

Walking over to Pyrrha, she placed the crown on her head. "Ｈａｎｇ ｏｎ ｔｏ ｔｈｉｓ ｆｏｒ ｍｅ." She then begins to remove everything in her possession. ...Ｉｔ'ｓ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈｉｓ ｗａｙ. Ｉ ｃａｎ'ｔ ａｆｆｏｒｄ ｔｏ ｈｅｓｉｔａｔｅ.

She hands everything to Ruby, the girl looks at her worriedly. "3D-?"

3D turns away quickly; she can't let this chance slip away.

"Ｈａｎｇ ｏｎ ｔｏ ｔｈｉｓ ｆｏｒ ｍｅ!" She says to her and runs off towards the blue glow.

_Ｄｏｎ__'__ｔ_ _ｗｏｒｒｙ__, __Ｒｕｂｙ__! __Ｙｏｕ__'__ｖｅ_ _ｄｏｎｅ_ _ｙｏｕｒ_ _ｐａｒｔ__. __Ｎｏｗ__, __ｉｔ__'__ｓ_ _ｍｙ_ _ｔｕｒｎ__._

"3D-" Ruby tried calling out to stop her, but Weiss placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her aside.

"Ruby, wait!"

"Huh?!"

"Her blood-" Weiss directed her gaze towards 3D's retreating figure, her Origin Sense allowing her to understand what 3D was up to. "It's literally boiling."

3D never faltered and didn't halt her charge, the form of Monarch, in a bloodied and weakened state, emerges from under the rubble with the help of his phantom arms; the sight spurring her on.

_-__Ｄａｄ__, __Ｉ__'__ｍ_ _ｓｏｒｒｙ__. __Ｙｏｕ_ _ｄｉｄｎ__'__ｔ_ _ｄｅｓｅｒｖｅ_ _ｔｈｉｓ__. __Ａｎｄ__, __Ｉ_ _ｋｎｏｗ_ _ｙｏｕ_ _ｗｅｒｅｎ__'__ｔ_ _ｍｙ__ "__ｒｅａｌ_ _ｄａｄ__", __ｂｕｔ_ _Ｉ_ _ａｐｐｒｅｃｉａｔｅｄ_ _ｔｈｅ_ _ｔｉｍｅ_ _ｗｅ_ _ｇｏｔ_ _ｔｏｇｅｔｈｅｒ__._

Fond memories of King surfaced in her mind, bringing a smile to her face. Despite their initial differences King had grown to care for her. His knowledge and wisdom enlightening her to a deeper understanding of the world she came to exist in. He worried over her and taught her to learn from the mistakes she made; he guided her in hopes that she would be a better person than himself. Isn't that what all fathers aspire for? To see their children strive and live their life without regrets.

_-__Ａｎｄ_ _Ｇｌｙｎｄａ__, __Ｉ_ _ｄｏｎ__'__ｔ_ _ｈａｖｅ_ _ａｎｙ_ _ｒｉｇｈｔ_ _ｔｏ_ _ｃａｌｌ_ _ｙｏｕ__ "__ｍｏｍ__"...__ｂｕｔ_ _ｔｈａｔ__'__ｓ_ _ｗｈａｔ_ _ｙｏｕ_ _ｗｅｒｅ_ _ｌｉｋｅ_ _ｔｏ_ _ｍｅ__\- __ａ_ _ｍｏｔｈｅｒ__. __Ｙｏｕ_ _ｌｏｏｋｅｄ_ _ａｆｔｅｒ_ _ｍｅ__._

Images of Glynda's smiling face brought a swell of emotions through her. This woman and her affiliation to King and the students were the sole reason she pushed forward, despite how harrowing the odds were. Glynda was there to defend 3D when she was attacked by BRK, and that was before anyone really trusted her after her threat of killing Yang if she were to revert back. Glynda was selfless, and it went beyond protecting those who weren't infected. She did everything in her power to protect them, even when it led to her own death. Isn't that what mothers do? To protect their children at all costs despite the dangers laid upon them.

_Ｒｕｂｙ__... __Ｙｏｕ_ _ａｒｅｎ__'__ｔ_ _ｍｙ_ _ｓｉｓｔｅｒ__, __ａｎｄ_ _Ｉ_ _ｗｉｌｌ_ _ｎｅｖｅｒ_ _ｂｅ_ _Ｙａｎｇ__\- __ｓｔｉｌｌ__, __ｙｏｕ_ _ｌｅｔ_ _ｍｅ_ _ｂｅ_ _ｆｏｒ_ _ａ_ _ｗｈｉｌｅ__. __Ｔｈａｎｋｓ_ _ｆｏｒ_ _ｌｅｔｔｉｎｇ_ _ｍｅ_ _ｌｉｖｅ__, __ｌｏｖｅ__, __ａｎｄ_ _ｂｅ_ _ｍｅ__._

Tears began streaming down her cheeks then; thinking of all the time she shared with everyone. How eventually they all accepted her for who she was and were thankful that she existed. How they trusted her and respected her to make her own choices to support everyone. It made her feel loved, and she was happy to have the chance to truly understand the feeling.

_Ｉ__'__ｍ_ _ｇｌａｄ_ _Ｉ_ _ｇｏｔ_ _ｔｏ_ _ｍｅｅｔ_ _ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ__, __ｅｖｅｎ_ _ｉｆ_ _ｉｔ_ _ｗａｓ_ _ｊｕｓｔ_ _ｆｏｒ_ _ａ_ _ｓｈｏｒｔ_ _ｗｈｉｌｅ__._

3D is only a few feet away from Monarch when she leaps at him and rears her mechanical fist back to punch Monarch in his dumb face, but he reacts quicker, a spectral fist slamming into her torso. 3D flew backwards from the force, as lava begins pouring forth from her eyes and mouth.

"-ｈａ"

She uttered as the effects of immolation started to engulf her.

"-ｇｏｔｃｈａ."

The bright fiery glow cleared and a boot slammed into the ground. She charged at Monarch with eyes that were an unmerciful inferno, while bursts of flames emanated from her mouth and robotic fist.

The punch that connected to Monarch's face blew him away with incredible force. Gradually the flames simmered and died down, and she took a moment to calm herself before turning to her friends.

"Guys was that the headmaster? Am I in trouble?" Yang said to them with a concerned expression.


	46. Respite

**Hug Yang.**

**Everyone pile on the babe.**

Ruby didn't even hesitate at the suggestions in her mind, speeding towards her big sister using her Semblance. Yang could hear her name being yelled in the distance and how it grew louder as Ruby got closer.

"yyyyaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!"

"Oh shit."

Ruby leapt at her, wrapping her arms securely around her neck and even managing to wrap her legs around her waist. Yang laughed as she steadied herself, returning Ruby's hug as she held on. "Whoa! Hey, sis." Blake had followed suit soon after, surprising Yang with her added weight clinging onto her. "And Blake too!"

Yang held them both with each arm, her legs trembling with the exertion of having to support both girls. Weiss slowly walked over to the three, her demeanor cool and calm. "A-Are you going to jump on me too?" Yang asked in a strained tone. Weiss stood right in front of her before she stopped and smiled. "No." she said while embracing all three of her teammates.

After Ruby and Blake detached themselves from Yang, Blake had remained by her side, nuzzling against her shoulder. Pyrrha and Velvet approached team RWBY together, Yang looking eagerly at them when she recognized the two.

"Oh, hey- Pyrrha and Velvet are here too!"

"Hi Yang." Pyrrha smiled at her while Velvet nodded her head in acknowledgement.

Yang had pointed at them with her mechanical hand, and as they came closer she realized just how different the two appeared. Pyrrha with her horns and scarred eye, and Velvet's exhausted and disheveled look. "Uhhh...You guys look great." Yang said, deciding to be polite. She then looked at her new hand, wiggling the appendages experimentally as bewilderment crossed her face. "...Wait, uh- I'm gonna need an explanation here."

**There's so much going on, but make sure Monarch is down for good.**

Ruby took her robotic hand in her own, looking Yang in the eyes assuredly. "Yang, I promise you we'll tell you everything. But right now, there's another issue we gotta deal with." Turning around she walked towards the direction where Monarch had landed. "Come on, guys. Time to go check up on THAT GUY." She waved a hand forward as she led the others on.

Yang looked nervous again as she pointed in the direction the "headmaster" she had recently pummeled flew off to. "Yeah, that guy's ok, right? Y-You don't think he's...dead, do you?"

"I sure hope he is." Ruby replied with a hint of malice in her voice, startling Yang by her suddenly serious demeanor. "Everyone be on your guard. I want Blake going first. Any sign of movement, and you speed out of there." Blake nodded. "Got it."

Blake stepped forward cautiously towards Monarch's prone form, but her shoulders soon relaxed as she gazed upon a gruesome sight. "I don't think you need to worry." Blake said evenly. "Headless men don't move."

Velvet looked at the scene, crinkling her nose in disgust. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Me too..." Said a distressed Yang as she held her cheeks. She began feeling queasy at the sight of splattered grey matter, knowing that it was her doing. It made her feel faint. "H-Headless!?" she mumbled to herself.

She recovered quickly enough from her shocked state, frustration taking over for her lack of knowledge on the series of events and the strange behavior of her friends. "Ok now that we have confirmed that I _am_ a _murderer_, can someone- anyone- explain all this!?"

The group gathers themselves away from Monarch's corpse and Ruby tells Yang everything. As Ruby begins to recap, it hits her just how much has happened. All those who were found, and how much has been lost- never to be found again. Ruby is surprised to find that she actually manages to tell the whole story without having to stop and gather herself more than five times. When Ruby finishes no one says anything for a long time.

Both Pyrrha and Yang look at her, their expressions grave as they realize how much they missed, the many horrors they didn't have to endure because their existences were replaced.

**Loot Monarch's corpse...or what's left of it, anyway.**

Ruby decides to check Monarch's inventory while the others process what she told them.

She approaches the corpse carefully, being sure not to touch any of his blood. Gingerly she reaches out and manages to safely open his inventory. There's not much in here...and Ruby's unsure of what to take.

As Ruby deliberates, Pyrrha sinks to her knees and quietly starts to cry.

**Realize just how fucked up you all are now.**

Ruby knows.

She's sure everybody else is aware of it too. They will never forget what has happened here. Never forget the people they met and the sacrifices they made. The choices that could have been done and would have made things different. The scarring left on their minds and bodies, never to be erased no matter what kind of things the outside world would try to do to 'fix' them.

Ruby couldn't blame Pyrrha for breaking down, and she wouldn't fault anyone else for it either. But she was the leader of their rag-tag group, and she felt the need to keep herself steady. Biting her lip and clenching a fist she breathed in deeply, releasing the air slowly to calm her nerves.

**Make sure there aren't any entities around.**

**It'd be a shame to be attacked during half the team's breakdown.**

It's ok. Ruby assures the voices -or herself- of that. While Ruby had been recapping their journey, Blake and Velvet took up a defensive position. When Ruby asks them how it looks Blake says the coast is all clear.

**Leave what's there.**

**Glynda wanted him to have that ring.**

**It's not yours to take.**

**Let him rest in peace with it.**

This is true. Ruby remembers her conversation with Monarch and his retelling of the events that led up to how he procured Glynda's ring. Despite how Monarch claimed to despise her, Ruby could tell how much Glynda -and the ring- meant to him. It was endearing in a strange way, and Ruby decided that Glynda would want this as well. Ruby leaves Monarch's inventory alone.

**Kneel down next to Pyrrha and silently hug her.**

As Pyrrha's quiet sobs reach Ruby's ears she moves over to her. Without a word Ruby slumps onto the ground in front of Pyrrha and wraps her arms around her. Pyrrha leans her head forward, with her forehead resting against Ruby's shoulder. She does nothing more to acknowledge her.

Ruby feels like she should be saying something, but knows there are no words that can make either of them feel better; least of all Pyrrha. Ruby trembles, biting her lip to keep from sobbing. Soon they part from the embrace. Ruby stands up first while Pyrrha remains motionless.

**Inventory check.**

Other than her own, everyone's inventory is relatively sparse, and not too much has changed with what they carry. Velvet holds only the sleeping pills. Weiss has her weapon, some paper scraps, a note, and the book. Blake carries a metal rod, Ren's guns, and her own weapon. Pyrrha holds the rest of the scraps and a flashlight. Ruby herself is carrying Crescent Rose, a medkit, batteries, the crown polish, a lighter, and the note for Ren. She's still has Yang's music player and headphones, along with Glynda's photo, set aside. She should put them away somewhere.

**We said we would return the crown to King.**

**We should.**

**It's the least we could do.**

**A promise is a promise after all.**

Ruby finds where the crown was last left and takes it as she begins walking over to the body. She gets a few curious looks from the others. Ruby gives them a small smile and only says, "A promise is a promise".

Ruby walks over to Monarch's corpse. She holds it up and observes it, memorizes every facet and all the curves and points that make its shape. She remembers when King lent her the crown to wear, and how elated the gesture alone made her feel. Now it was only a hollow reminder of that elation.

Ruby crouches down and gently places the crown on Monarch's chest. She doesn't stay any longer than she needs to, immediately rising and returning to her friends. Pyrrha stands after a short while. She doesn't say anything. No one does.

It is difficult to know what they're thinking. Even Yang, who Ruby can normally understand easily, is a mystery to her right now. No one says anything, not even Yang, and Ruby slowly comes to realize that they are waiting. Waiting for her- for Ruby to make a decision.


	47. Blue Eyes Weiss Dragon

**A/N: There's always time for puns.**

* * *

**We should return Yang's stuff.**

**Redistribute items so everyone has some free spaces.**

Ruby finds this to be a good idea. She hands Yang her things, as well as the photo. Velvet now holds one of Ren's guns and some batteries. Ruby gives the crown polish to Blake. Pyrrha is carrying Ren's other gun. She has Weiss give her scraps to Pyrrha, and it seems like they've actually collected them all.

They put the scraps together, but there really isn't anything new or helpful in the note.

_Glynda_

_It has all gone awry._

_NOT only are they_

_OUT OF CONTROL, they_

_are multiplying._

_I have many regrets._

_I only hope to forget it all._

_I failed. I'm sorry._

_OZPIN_

Ruby feels a weird, hollow feeling as she reads the note over and over. When she's done, she returns all the scraps to Pyrrha.

**With Monarch dead we need to focus on escaping.**

**Let's clean up.**

**We should try to revert entities.**

**The more people we find the more likely we can change others.**

Yes. That's right. Ruby faces her group and speaks in a clear voice.

"There are still people we have to save. We can't stop now. We've come so far; we can't give up so close to the finish line!" Everyone nodded or murmured agreement to this. "King told us about how we need to eliminate all entities before turning the dome off. That makes sense. If what Monarch said about curing them is true, then it'll be a breeze with Weiss' vision." Ruby glanced towards her partner, the girl looking in her direction attentively, itching at her bandages.

Blake spoke up next, her posture confident in Ruby's leadership. "- So, let's think: who is unaccounted for? Who haven't we seen? All of those people are potentially entities. Might be a good place to start."

Yang's eyes roved over the group gingerly. "...So, who's missing?"

"Ren." Pyrrha said sadly. "...All of CRDL." Velvet crossed her arms and seemed somewhat miffed at the mention of the team.

"I haven't seen professor Port around either." Weiss mentioned, still scratching the edges of her bandages.

Six people, at least. Better search for them...

**Ask everyone if they want/need anything.**

"I just need to be left alone for a while. Sorry." Yang says with a tired sigh, looking apologetically at Ruby.

Ruby understands. It must be difficult to come to terms with all of this so suddenly, where Ruby and the others had grown somewhat accustomed to it over time.

"Nothing in particular." Blake says.

"I just want to keep moving before I have time to start thinking." Velvet says with a shrug.

Pyrrha grabs her hair and brings it over her shoulder and points to it. "Um- if it's not too much, could someone give me a quick haircut? It's not really the time for beauty shop, but it got burnt, and smells really bad. Just cut if off."

"This eye bandage stuff is really itchy. Do we have a replacement or something? It's getting really uncomfortable." Weiss says while still scratching at them.

**Cut Pyrrha's hair with Storm Flower.**

Ruby decides to address Pyrrha's hair issue first. At Ruby's request, Velvet grabs the Storm Flower in her inventory, as it's safer to use compared to everything else.

Velvet takes Pyrrha's hair, brandishing the knife blade on the gun near it. "I should warn you, I don't know the first thing about hairdressing." Velvet says to Pyrrha.

"That's okay."

It's true; Velvet cuts hair horribly. But at least it gets cut. A bit too much, but still.

"Oh, darn- I cut way too unevenly over here... I-I'll try to fix it..." Velvet says uncertainly.

"Just cut however much you want." Pyrrha says nonchalantly.

"I-I can even this out... make it an undercut?"

"That sounds nice, actually."

And so she does.

Pyrrha ruffles her hair making loose strands fall to the ground. The once waist length tresses are shaved down to a mohawk of sorts. Pyrrha doesn't seem to mind though.

"I did always want to try a haircut like this. Thanks, Velvet!"

"No problem." Velvet says nervously. "Don't ever ask me to do that again." Velvet felt relief at Pyrrha's gratitude, since she was stressed at the idea of ruining _the_ Pyrrha Nikos' hair.

"Hey, Ruby?" Weiss whispered, cupping a hand by her mouth.

"Yeah?"

"What does she look like?"

Ruby considered Pyrrha for a moment. "She looks kinda like Neptune, but pretty."

"Nice."

**Check under Weiss' bandages.**

**It might be itchy cause their old.**

**Or something worse.**

Ruby now turns her attention to Weiss' itchy bandages, hoping that nothing serious is going on. "Ok, Weiss. I'm gonna take those bandages off now." Ruby forewarned.

"Okay."

"Is it okay if I touch you?" Ruby said politely.

"Yes."

"Okay."

Ruby carefully removes the bandages, unwrapping them from around Weiss' head. She had braced herself for what she would see, but what she saw instead left her at a loss for words.

"How is it?" Weiss asked her, but Ruby was too shocked at the moment to immediately reply. "...Ruby? Are you there?"

Ruby couldn't formulate words as her thoughts were too preoccupied with processing what she was seeing. Weiss's eyes weren't just bloody hollow sockets anymore. Instead there was an inky darkness that made up her irises, and a light blue glow of a vertical line that acted as her pupils. It was unnerving, but also strangely beautiful to look at.

**Wave your hand in front of Weiss' face to see if the weird eyes track the movement.**

Ruby does this and they seem to track perfectly, but Weiss shows no sign of actually seeing.

"Hey Weiss. Can you see anything right now?" Ruby asks.

"No... I can't see a thing. Unless I do the weird blood thing. Like this-" Weiss' eyes have a golden gleam to them as she speaks. "Then I can see you."

Ruby waves while Weiss can see. Weiss smiles.

"Do you think you'll be fine without wearing the bandages? It doesn't seem like they're needed anymore." Ruby says.

"I think I'll be fine without them?" Weiss says unsure. "It's kind of up to you since I can't really...assess damage. Honestly, I think the old ones were mostly getting itchy because they were old."

**Since we're checking eyes look at Pyrrha's and Yang's.**

**See if there's anything different for them.**

Ruby asks Pyrrha and Yang about their eyes. Pyrrha closes her normal eye and uses a finger to hold open her other one. "This eye seems to have better night vision...beyond that, nothing much is different."

Yang covers her unscarred eye, the other staring blankly ahead. "Nope. Nothing. It's dead."

**Might as well let Weiss know exactly what's going on.**

"Weiss, you have eyes now...and they look really cool." Ruby says assuredly.

"Oh. Uh...thanks? Good to know." Weiss says.

Ruby decides that while Weiss has her Origin Sense active she might as well ask if she sees anyone else around. Weiss lifts her arm and points past Ruby.

"Behind you, there's...something. I don't know what that is, but it's alive. I can't see what -or who- it is, it's too far away. But there's alive blood of some kind."


	48. Judgment

"Weiss, how much effort do you have to put into working your hemovision thing? If it's not too much you might want to keep it on so you can see if anything tries to sneak up on us in this darkness." Ruby says.

"I've actually been experimenting with it...I can keep it on for a few minutes at a time, but then I have to rest for a bit or it'll start to hurt." She touches her forehead as she says this. "I'm fine for a couple of minutes more. I'll keep an eye out as long as I'm able, but don't rely on it forever. I don't want to find out what might happen if I overdo it."

Ruby nods to her, then Pyrrha approaches her with something in hand. "I'm sure this can be of use." She says as she gives her a flashlight. That's right! The flashlight is back! Ruby takes the flashlight from Pyrrha and points it in the direction Weiss saw the blood.

Let there be light! And...Nothing.

Weiss' vision reaches farther than Ruby's flashlight. If she wants to find out for herself what Weiss is seeing, she has no choice but to approach. Here's to hoping that whatever they find isn't hostile towards them.

**Against better judgement, you should head towards it.**

They move forward and as they do Weiss holds onto Ruby's hand, who safely guides her over any obstacles.

Not far in, Ruby starts seeing blood- a trail.

"Is someone wounded?" Pyrrha inquires.

"I think I recognize this blood." Weiss says to Ruby.

"Really?" Ruby replies.

"The trail is the same blood as the one I saw. -It's dirty." They continue walking as she speaks. "In a few steps, you'll probably see him too."

Weiss was right, they did see someone, _something_. The figure is huddled against the trunk of a tree, head held between its hands. It appears to be frightened. There's blood all over and around him, covering the pointed horn atop his head and the wings curled around his form. The entity hasn't noticed them yet.

"...Cardin." Weiss murmurs.

**Approach with caution.**

**Looks like he's pretty messed up.**

**Try calling his name to see what happens.**

Ruby keeps the light on him and tentatively calls out.

"C-Cardin?"

The creature turns its head towards her. It's large eyes and pointed fangs visible now. It's not Cardin anymore, but Ruby trusts Weiss' vision. It _was_ Cardin.

The closest wing shifts towards them a bit, but soon stops and does nothing more. The entity does not attack. It does not respond to Ruby's voice, either. Its attention seems to be on the flashlight.

There's no way to tell what it's thinking, but it doesn't seem hostile, at least.

"Hmmm...what to do?" Ruby mumbles to herself.

**Carefully move around the entity.**

**Keep shining the light on them.**

**Check out why they're bleeding.**

Ruby proceeds to move around it, maintaining the light on it at all times. Weiss still holds onto her hand, following her while gazing at the entity warily. It has a lot of minor cuts and scrapes, but most glaring is the big spike through its chest. Additionally, a large amount of blood coats the entity's unmoving left wing. A run-in with something less than friendly perhaps?

**Consult Velvet.**

**Ironically she probably knew him best.**

**Tell her we'll defer to her judgment.**

**His fate can be left to her.**

When Ruby asks these things to Velvet her ears droop low behind her and she looks at Ruby with disbelief.

"My...judgment? Why are you talking as if we have a choice? Maybe _your_ heart is as cold as stone, Ruby, but mine isn't."

Ruby looks down shamefully, feeling the consequence of listening to the voices.

"Did you forget why we came here in the first place? To Beacon? We are the sworn protectors, dedicating our lives to the protection of the people. We enrolled here so we could learn to protect those who can't protect themselves. And you're telling me we have a choice here? That we could just turn away, intentionally leaving a kid to die?" Velvet's gaze was intense as it bore down on Ruby.

"I'm sorry... It's just... Since he..."

"...A huntress who lets personal feelings interfere with her duty is not a good huntress." Velvet murmurs. "Do not mistake my mercy for forgiveness. Enough blood has been spilled on these grounds...I have already lost many I care about, and I will never intentionally abandon someone if there is still a chance to save them. _That_ is my judgment. _Defer_ to it. We aren't going anywhere without at least trying."

Velvet's voice was strong, stronger than Ruby had ever heard her be during their whole ordeal. Here was a true huntress, and Ruby would try her best not to forget that.


	49. Birds Of A Feather

**Ask Velvet to talk to the entity.**

**Maybe she can get him to remember who he once was.**

**The transformation may heal his injuries.**

Velvet nods. "Alright, I'll give it a shot. I want the flashlight, and Pyrrha on standby." She says. Pyrrha points to herself questioningly, a bit surprised at the statement.

**Check on Yang, make sure she's not losing it too.**

Ruby lends the flashlight to Velvet, and steps back to chat with Yang.

"-Losing it? Nah...I don't think so- it's just so hard to take it all in." Yang removes her hair clips, going through her hair with her cyborg hand and ruffling it a bit. "People have really _died_. For real. Right here at Beacon."

"They told us that Beacon was the safest place in the country." Ruby said.

"I know- so much for _that_." Yang said with a roll of her eyes.

Meanwhile they could overhear Velvet and Pyrrha's attempt at getting across to Cardin.

"This is Pyrrha." Velvet said pointing to the girl. "She was better than you at _everything_." Pyrrha crouched down to the entity's level giving a kind "hello".

Yang watched them, rubbing the back of her head as she continued. "People I knew are dead, and I wasn't even able to be here, to do something about it. I wasn't here to protect you or anyone else. What sort of huntress am I?"

Ruby looked at her with concern, she didn't want Yang to feel bad about herself over things she couldn't quite control. "It wasn't your fault, Yang!"

Yang hummed to herself as she began to carefully replace the barrettes back to where they belong. "...Then...I want you to tell me something, _earnestly_." Ruby nodded her head vigorously. "The entity that replaced me..." Yang said as she held out a red barrette towards Ruby. "Was she...I mean...Did she look after you, like I would have wanted? Was she a good sister when I couldn't be?"

Ruby took the barrette and held it in front of her. A memory flashed in her mind. One where 3D was smiling. Ruby couldn't keep herself from tearing up at the image. "Yeah. She laid down her life for us, to protect us."

Yang smiled warmly at her, gently taking back the barrette and putting it in her hair with a soft click. "That's good. That's all I need to know...I guess we weren't all that different after all."

Ruby rubbed her eyes and smiled. "Yang..." Before she could say anything more they were interrupted by Pyrrha's shout. "RUBY!"

Quickly Ruby snapped her gaze towards them. "What." She said, trailing off at the sight before them.

"This is happening!" Pyrrha said as she looked back at where a now immolating entity and Velvet were.

"That's gonna light the whole tree on fire..." Velvet said as she took the knife she was armed with and placed it between her teeth.

While the entity coughed out lava Velvet leapt at the tree behind it, grabbing a low branch with both hands. In one strong swing she managed to kick the entity away from the base of the tree before the immolation consumed it completely.

Velvet swung herself around the branch in a final acrobatic feat. Perched on the branch she took the knife in her hand and aimed the flashlight at the boy lying in the grass below. Cardin looked back at her a bit disoriented.

**Let Velvet greet him first.**

**Velvet should stop spookily hovering over him in the tree.**

Ruby whispers to the others to stay back. When she manages to catch Velvet's attention she motions for her to get down and approach him.

Velvet gazes at him critically, "Hm." Then placing her knife between her teeth again she uses her free hand to hang off the branch and land on the ground safely. Velvet keeps the flashlight trained on him as she grips the knife in her hand once more.

"Hello." She says plainly.

"...Velvet? Is that you?" Cardin says in disbelief. "Thank God- I was starting to think I'd be on my own _forever_." He seemed exhausted, there were still a few scrapes and bruises visible on him.

"Don't worry, Cardin...I'm not alone." Velvet says directing the light towards the others for a moment.

Cardin observes them briefly before speaking again. "Ah. Hello, everyone...hm?" His gaze focuses on Blake. "Blake? She's a Faunus too?" He said bewildered.

"...Yes, _they're_ a Faunus too." Velvet says.

Cardin sighs heavily, taking both of his hands and covering his face partially. "Ok. Cool. I've just never seen them without their bow. It all makes sense."

Velvet moves over to the others, handing off the flashlight to Ruby.

"Does he seem...'off' to you?" Ruby says to her.

"Very. Maybe he's in shock."

**Check that Cardin's alright.**

**Ask if he remembers anything.**

**What happened to his team?**

Ruby approaches Cardin tentatively, settling into a crouch before him and keeping the flashlight aimed towards the ground near him.

"Are you ok, Cardin?"

Cardin curls in on himself a bit, fingers curling through his hair as he grasps his head. "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine I just have a really bad headache...and I feel kinda sick."

Ruby looks at him with sympathy. "I'm really sorry you're hurting, but this is important." Ruby paused a moment, giving him time to prepare himself. "Do you remember anything from before, like- people you saw, or...your team, for example? Do you know where they are?" Cardin stiffens at the mention of his team, straightening up a bit while he still holds his head.

"...We managed to stick together, for a while." He began quietly. "We beat up one of those- uh- entities, right?" Ruby nodded affirmatively. "And- And then Dove started complaining. Sayin' he felt ill, you know?" Cardin's voice began to increase in volume now. "We thought he was just woozy from the fight, y'know! We- We didn't know! He was the strongest fighter on the team, so we thought he'd be fine! But he- He turned into, like, a huge monster right in front of us!" Cardin's eyes were wide as he spoke of his recollection.

"We got away, but then Sky started freaking out- 'cuase he'd been feeling ill, too. He was all like 'just kill me now, before I turn, too' and stuff- by the end, he was practically beggin'." Cardin's voice became rushed and a bit panicked as he spoke. "So I'm like, 'let's just try to stay calm' or whatever, but Russel...He- He was always a bit...wild. I don't think Russel really knew what he was doing, but he...He just...up and kill 'im...just like that, y'know?!"

Cardin grew eerily silent for a while. When he spoke up next he was much quieter. "...Russel and I got separated after that. I don't know where he went. All I remember beyond that is..._burning_. 'N now I'm here again, 'n they're still gone." Cardin brought his knees up, crossing his arms over them and burying his face in them.

Ruby watched him with pity, contemplating his words. "We may need to watch out for Russel, whether he's an entity or not." She said to the others.

Cardin raised his head, tears streaming down his face without restraint. "He- He's a good dude, I swear..." Cardin sniffed. "He just gets too into shit and goes overboard- you know?" Cardin knew even he didn't sound convinced, once again thumping his forehead against his knees. "...Fuck." He said in a muffled voice.

"We'll definitely look for him, Cardin. I promise." Ruby said in reassurance.

**Let's get somewhere safe.**

**Cardin- everyone- could use some rest.**

**Give him an info dump later.**

Ruby called his name gently until she got his attention once he settled down. "You can come with us and get some rest." She said.

"I'd like that." Cardin sniffed, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. As he prepared to get up Velvet stuck her hand out towards him.

"...We're in the same boat right now. This doesn't make us friends, though- got it?" She said with a smirk.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Cardin said with a halfhearted chuckle. He took her hand and was hoisted up. "Thanks."

"Oh, spare me."

Okay. Time to rest up. Where to?


	50. Clipped Wings

**Inventory Check.**

**Does Cardin have his mace?**

**Is there anything else significant?**

Ruby asks the boy if he's carrying anything. The mace is, in fact, the only thing he has.

**Go to the dorm building.**

**Return to the JNPR room.**

Ruby thinks that sounds great. When she tells the others they all agree; they are too tired to object. Blake is already yawning, and Pyrrha's tired body shivers from a chill. Velvet generously lends Pyrrha her uniform jacket to keep herself warm with.

As they walk through the halls there's an eerie silence.

This place no longer feels like home.

When they enter the JNPR room there's old blood on the floor and one of the beds. But at least this room is just as they had left it.

Pyrrha looks at the blood with some bewilderment.

"...Why is there blood?" She says in a weary tone.

Ruby looks at the mess and recalls the reason behind it.

"That would be mine." She simply says, along with a hushed apology.

**Grab a bunch of blankets.**

**Get them from different dorm rooms.**

**That way everyone has a blanket!**

Ruby's first thought is to pull the JNPR dorm sheets back up, but...the rope resists, pulled taut already; Ruby is too tired to try forcing it.

It's most likely snagged on something; probably another window, Ruby reasons. So, they collect blankets from other rooms instead.

**Sleep.**

**Make sure at least one person is awake.**

**Gotta have someone on guard duty.**

When Ruby suggests this Velvet says she can take first watch with someone- Ruby volunteers to join. The others need sleep more urgently than she does.

Everyone quickly settles in, and within moments, are immediately in deep slumber.

Ruby and Velvet keep watch in silence. Ruby wonders if she should say something.

**Ask how she feels about Cardin.**

Ruby asks, and she's not too surprised by the answer.

"Fuck that guy." Velvet says plainly. "Seriously, though. I meant what I said back then."

Ruby remembers. _"Do not mistake my mercy for forgiveness. Enough blood has been spilled on these grounds."_

"Since then I've been thinking..." Velvet continues. "If I had replied 'no, let's just leave'...would that have been justified? ...Probably." She says with a sad smile. "But, you know, while holding a _human life_ in my hands was an interesting _role reversal_, it's not really my thing. And who am _I_ to decide who has the right to _live_ or _exist_? What would _I_ gain from surrendering him to death? Joy?" Velvet shifts uncomfortably. "I doubt this kind of power has ever brought its wielder _joy_."

Velvet sighs tiredly, adjusting a blanket around her shoulders. "I guess the answer to your question would be...I don't like the guy, nor do I particularly enjoy teaming up with him, but I'll do it for the sake of a future where we both live through this and never have to interact again."

**Apologize to Velvet for what happened with Cardin.**

**Tell her thank you for all the stuff she said.**

"Velvet," Ruby started. "I'm sorry for asking you to make a decision on behalf of Cardin's life. That was totally uncalled for. Also, thank you for what you said, back when we found Cardin. I needed to hear it."

Velvet blinked at her in astonishment, then chuckled lightly and smiled at her.

"Oh, hahah... n-no problem. Sorry if I sounded a bit harsh back there. Don't worry about what you said. No hard feelings, Ruby." Velvet said, feeling somewhat flattered.

Ruby felt immense relief. No longer was there that awkward tension in the air. "Thanks." She said again.

A short silence settled in, and Ruby was somewhat eager to fill it again.

**Ask her if she'd like to talk about what's on her mind.**

"Velvet, would it be too much to ask what's on your mind?" Ruby said politely.

Velvet smiled at her, and there was another short pause before she spoke.

"I was just thinking... I don't often hear people say that something I said was nice or helpful. It's nice... and, I guess... I'm thinking about the future. What I'm gonna do after all this, y'know? Is that getting ahead of myself? Haha." Velvet said.

Ruby grinned and shook her head. While Velvet spoke she noticed how she held Pyrrha's hand as the other girl slept. It seemed to soothe the slumbering girl, as her surly expression softened and her body looked more relaxed. Ruby found the gesture to be sweet.

"Of course not! I would think it's important to have a plan." Ruby said encouragingly.

Velvet beamed her a smile. "Yeah! I'm glad you agree."

"What kind of things were you planning on doing, if you don't mind me asking?" Ruby said.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, actually. I think it's safe to say that Beacon has...officially _fallen_. If I wanted to finish my education, I'd probably have to travel abroad just to find teachers...But even if I had a teacher right here, I'm not sure I ever want to hold another weapon in my hands again after this." Velvet murmured as she lifted her hand from Pyrrha's and gazed at her palms. "I talk big about what a good hunter is, but I'm not even sure I can handle being one anymore."

Velvet looks off to the side, and Ruby can tell she's gazing at Pyrrha when she continues. "Who knows, maybe I'll just settle down with a nice girl and try to forget all of this." She then returns her hand to holding Pyrrha's.

Ruby looks at the two fondly. She glances at Pyrrha, resting as peacefully as one can after all the ordeals they've gone through.

"Does Pyrrha having horns make her a Faunus now?" Ruby said absently.

Velvet observes her with a sad gaze. "...No...But the world out there will see her as one, and it will not be kind." Velvet gives a gentle squeeze to her hand before carefully moving it towards her horns. "She is not Faunus by blood, or heritage, but let's not pretend that humanity ever cared about our _heritage_." Velvet says as she touches the base of one horn.

"How Pyrrha chooses to respond to this situation will determine whether I follow this crush where it leads, or put it to death." Velvet says in a more grave tone.

Velvet then returns her attention towards Ruby.

"What about you, Ruby? What's your plan?"

"I guess I'm pretty much in the same boat. I want to be optimistic about a future where I can help people, but I'm not too sure what to do yet besides finish getting out of here alive." Ruby says with a shrug.

"Legit. It's hard to plan ahead that far..." Velvet says.

**CHECK OUT THE SKETCHY ASS WINDOW**

Ruby takes the flashlight and walks to the window, Velvet observing her silently. She leans out the window, holding onto the frame for support as she looks over the edge. She shines the light down and can see the makeshift rope...but there's something else down there.

Ruby beckons Velvet over, and the Faunus glances out the window curiously.

"I think I see a person's arm down there. Can you tell who it is, or do you just see the arm?" Ruby says.

Velvet leans out the window and squints. "Ok. Turn the light off please?" She asks.

Ruby shuts off the flashlight and takes a step back, giving Velvet some space.

"I see the arm too. It's pretty far down... The angle and distance make it hard to tell, even for me, but I think that's a human." She says.

**Pull it, the blanket, up.**

**You will need some help.**

**Unless you want to ignore the creepy appendage in favor of sleep.**

Ruby considered leaving the rope alone, but the voices in her mind convinced her otherwise.

It was a tad disturbing to know that just outside the window someone was so close to them as they slept.

"Help me out here. We're pulling the rope up." Ruby motions to Velvet who looks a bit unsure of the decision herself.

"Okay..."

With two people pulling, the rope gives, and they manage to pull it up.

Ruby can see a hand poking up over the edge, just one final heave-

They manage to drag the whole body inside, and it lands with a dull thump. They stumble a bit as the rope slackens, then moving over to each side of the body to get a closer look.

The two girls share a somber look before gazing down at the body once more.

Lying sprawled out on his back, with the rope wrapped around his torso, hands, and neck, was a remaining member of team CRDL.

Russel's eyes were clouded over and his mouth was gaping open slightly. There were bloodstains on his clothes and face as well.

One thing was for sure.

He was dead.


	51. Blitz Blockade

**Well, so much for sleep.**

**This might be a good time to wake up the rest.**

It doesn't take much before everyone else quickly awakens.

"Ruby! What happened?!" Yang says in concern.

Anxious expressions gazed down at the body in the middle of the room, their shock just as prevalent as Ruby's.

"We just pulled the rope up...and he- he was already..."

Weiss' eyes glow as she examines Russel's body for traces of dirty blood.

"He doesn't have anyone else's blood on him, as far as I can tell. And the rest is..." Weiss trails off uncertainly.

Cardin moves closer to his teammate's still form. Sitting on a bed nearby he looks down silently, his face screwing up into a remorseful expression at the fact that all of his team members are officially found dead.

"Clean." Weiss finishes as she looks away sadly.

**Damn. **

**Close Russel's eyes.**

Ruby kneels down slowly. With the blood confirmed as clean she holds no hesitance in gently shutting both his eyelids in one smooth motion.

**Don't trust that open window anymore.**

Ruby glances back towards it. Only able to see an inky maw of darkness and not much else.

**Be wary.**

**The body will attract _him_.**

As she processes these thoughts the voices whisper to her, a low croaky growl is heard from outside.

Gradually Ruby sees _him_ as two pointed ears appear, followed by bandages over the eyes and then sharp fangs dripping with saliva.

**Put as much distance between you and the window.**

**Maybe head for the hall if possible.**

The others don't need a verbal cue to know to back away, with Weiss pulling Cardin's arm forcefully as he was closest to the window.

The entity draws closer as it crawls over the window ledge on all fours and begins to enter its whole body into the room.

It growls all the while, and in the light Ruby has a better look at it.

Its skin is some sort of purple color with a few spots of turquoise accenting certain areas. It has a tail that sweeps slowly behind it and curls around its body like a cat. Ruby doesn't linger too long with her observations as she rushes to an exit.

"Everyone! Let's get out of here!" Ruby shouts as she opens the door leading out to the hall.

As they sprint towards their only means of a getaway, Cardin stares at the entity with a stunned expression.

Weiss tugs at his collar impatiently. "Are you listening, boy?! We're going!"

**Test out the entity's abilities by throwing a pillow.**

"Alright, one second..."

Shaken out of his brief daze Cardin begins to move as he grips a pillow in one hand. He throws it at the entity's head and it hits the target spot on.

The creature hisses at the offensive material, its long tail flicking in ire. Arching its back it fires a torrent of red at the plush product from two protrusions upon each side of its spine.

"Blood!?" Cardin says incredulously. "So that's what you do..."

After everyone safely escapes into the hallway Cardin slams the door shut behind him.

"It sprays blood." He informs Ruby immediately.

The younger girl gives him two enthusiastic thumbs up at the information. "Hey, good info gathering!"

"Hey, I have _some_ skills. I was a team leader too, you know. -though I guess I didn't do my team much good in the end."

Already the group was running down the hall when the door slammed opened and permitted another inevitable encounter with the creature.

"Here it comes!" Ruby shouts to those in front.

**Check who it might be real quick.**

Weiss skids to a stop and swiftly turns to face the entity. Activating her Origin Sense she discovers who it used to be.

"I see it- it's you. Ren..." She says to herself. "It's Ren!" She then shouts at the others. "Let's get him back!"

They come to a halt beside her and face the entity determinedly. They're ready to bring their friend back.

It didn't take any long speeches of careful planning for them to figure out what to do, not like they had the time for such a luxury. Everyone seemed to maneuver fluidly, as if they could read each other's minds.

"Velvet!" Pyrrha calls out to the Faunus as she links her hands together and positions into a crouch.

Velvet placed a foot within her hands and was launched into the air while doing a backflip, going directly over the entity's head as it came charging. While disrupting its attention on the others, Velvet managed to place her hands on the distracted creature's head, launching herself backwards as it hissed and made a failed attempt at gushing tainted blood all over her. Landing strategically at the back of its hind legs she used her Red Death Killer Heels to slice its ligaments in order to prevent it from making any easy movement.

"Yes! Good work, Velvet! Now it can't run anymore!" Ruby shouted in triumph.

Next Yang and Cardin glanced at one another, Yang nodding her head in answer to some silent message they communicated. Charging forward the two activate their weapons as they rush toward the entity.

"Left, Yeah?" Yang says.

"Yeah." Cardin answers calmly.

A giant fiery explosion erupts against the entity's torso, the smoke clearing to reveal the two were untouched.

"...We may have misjudged our combined attack power." Yang said.

"He'll live."

"Well, we flipped 'im, at least. Everyone else okay?" Yang looks around at the others.

Blake stands idly near the entity. One of its hands outstretched and reaching for her leg with much strain.

Stabbing Gambol Shroud through it, she pins the appendage to the ground. "...We're okay."

Yang approaches it as it seems to stare dumbly at Blake and its hand.

"Don't even look at 'em." She says before slamming its head to the ground and directing its gaze elsewhere. "Look at _her_."

Ruby holds out a note with Ren's name on it. The same one Nora left for him.

"Ren!" She says with a stern look. "I know you can remember! The person you used to be...I'm sure you can hear me!" She shoves the note before her. "This was written by someone who cared about you! I'm sure you can remember Nora too, if you try! I'll read it!"

"Ren-" Ruby began, and as it lays there the entity listens to this tiny human's spouting.

* * *

However, soon the entity doesn't hear her voice but another girl's voice. A strange illusion is created in its mind, and then…it remembers.

_"Keep your head up!"_ A cheerful voice chirps.

For a brief moment the entity no longer feels like a monster, but a boy. He senses another presence sitting above him, next to his head, as he lays on the ground.

_"It will be okay. I know you'll love me no matter what happens to me."_ The voice says jovially.

There's a phantom sensation of someone lightly touching his nose. Tears well up in his eyes and slide down his face as a familiar warmth grows in his chest.

_"Boop."_

Then there was fire.

* * *

Lying on the ground before them was Lie Ren blinking several times at the ceiling before tilting his head to look back toward them.

"Oh...I'm here now." He says calmly.

…well, it's true that he was never really one for grand entrances…or one with a sense of dramatics.


	52. Bring Back The Sky

**Make sure Ren is doing alright.**

**Check his legs to see if they're hurt.**

"Legs feel fine." He says as he begins sitting up, raising his left hand before him. "There's a hole in my hand..." He turns his head to look back at them. "But I can live with that." He then smiles warmly. "You came back for me."

Ruby gives him an exuberant thumbs up. "Of course! We promised!"

"Hey, welcome back, buddy!" Yang says with a small wave.

Blake scratches a forefinger against her cheek sheepishly. "Sorry about your hand..."

Ren then proceeds to stand, his movements a bit slow and jerky. "Nothing hurts," He assures them. "But I'm so stiff. I feel 70 years old. How long was I out?"

"Not 100% sure, but I'd say at least a full day." Weiss says.

"I see. That's a while." He looks off to the side with a small frown.

"Excuse me, guys-" Pyrrha carefully shoves past Blake and Ruby.

She runs toward Ren and wraps her arms tightly around him in an embrace, eyes clench shut in relief. "I'm so glad you're back...I-" She says with a shaky breath. "I heard everything."

Ren hadn't reacted immediately to her, standing motionless in her hold. It made Pyrrha worried, but she continued to hold him.

"I'm sorry. I just-"

Recognition finally dawned upon the boy, and tears were immediately brimming his eyes. "Pyrrha- It's really you?" He said with disbelief.

**Time to put that crown polish to use.**

At the same time Ruby asks Blake to use the crown polish to help clean Velvet's knife.

"Of course!" Blake says to Ruby.

"It's me, I'm here." Velvet calls to her, leaning against a wall for support as she lifts up the bloodied blade attached to her boots.

"There's not much to do, aside from simply pouring it on..." Blake squeezes the strange liquid onto the blade and it sizzles the blood off into a green mist.

"Gross." Velvet says.

After a while the blade it relatively spotless.

"There, all clean!" Blake announces.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha and Ren are still holding onto each other. Their bodies tremble as tears of joy fall from their cheeks.

"You're real." Ren says with hushed relief. "I thought I'd never see you again."

Velvet glances over at them before leaning with her back against a wall near Cardin, who had been observing the two as well. It doesn't take long for them to feel the wave of emotions hit them at the two teammates' bittersweet reunion.

Velvet rubs a hand over her eyes. "Odd ones out, huh?"

"Yeah." Cardin says stoically.

"Feels fucking awful to have something in common with _you_." She laughs bitterly.

"Amen to that." Cardin says with a small chuckle and a sad smile.

**Check Port's office for clues.**

**Have Weiss keep an eye out for blood on the way there.**

It's dark, but with the guidance of Velvet, Blake, and Ruby's flashlight, it's easy to navigate.

Ruby vaguely regrets telling Weiss to keep her eyes open for blood; she could do without knowing, at this point. Weiss sounds calm as she, again and again, points out blood signatures - both familiar and unfamiliar, but all of them undeniably deceased.

"Mint, from team UMBR."

"Umeko...Umeko Shirosaki, I think."

"I don't...remember the name, but...we took Advanced Aura together."

"Andrew Barry. Be careful with that blood."

"Teila Ceruss...She always seemed nice."

"Prof. Newcastle...I regret never taking Combat Attire &amp; Upkeep."

"We took that!" Velvet says. "Coco got straight A's just for showing up."

The Academy Gardens are just as quiet and lifeless as the rest of the school.

Weiss takes a glance at the dead entity there, then looks away, already having confirmed everyone's suspicions.

"Dove."

Holding her forehead with one hand, Weiss scowls. "It really hurts now. Can I stop?"

"Yeah... thanks." Ruby says.

Ruby isn't surprised when they don't meet anyone else in the main building, either.

They don't look at the second story classroom hallway again.

They have seen enough.

Professor Port's office door seems normal at a glance, but upon close inspection, the door has been opened - forcibly.

The door simply slides open, revealing the shattered frame...and inside, the office.

It's empty, but someone rummaged through it at some point.

On the desk is a book laying open on a bookmarked page; judging by the lock, it is probably someone's journal. The lock is broken too; shattered with force to get into the book.

A familiar cane leans against a fallen cabinet. Ruby has a reasonable suspicion who was here.

They look at the journal in hopes of finding clues.

_Sometimes, recognizing your leader's faults is the most important part of being a follower. I cannot stay and watch this farce any longer._

_I don't know what he's thinking anymore._

_I don't even recognize him. I have to do something._

_He won't listen to me, so I'll go to others. I'm sure if I can just let them know what he's concocted here, I can get enough manpower to remove him from the project by force._

_I hope he doesn't do anything rash before then._

"Does that mean he left before the dome appeared?" Yang asks as she peers at the journal alongside Ruby.

"He got out in time..." Ruby mutters with relief.

There's nobody here.

What to do now?

**Pick up Ozpin's cane.**

**You can never have enough loot.**

"Sure..." Ruby thinks as she grips its handle and lifts it up to examine it.

The blade is encrusted with flaky, dry blood. The blood is harmless now.

**Well, doesn't look like there's much else to do.**

**Head up to Ozpin's office.**

They have to ride an elevator to get there, luckily it works fine, and the doors slide open to reveal a seemingly untouched room.

It doesn't seem much different... Or... Well... Something feels off, but... Ruby can't tell what it is.

Everyone pans out into the room and cast cursory glances around them.

No one says anything for a long time, and it is completely quiet.

"What's the point of all these gears, anyway?" Yang asks, breaking the silence. "They're not even doing anything."

Ruby looks up at the giant cogs that decorate the ceiling above. "No, they're doing something." She says, and Yang looks at her questioningly. "For sure... They're meant to be turning, right? Always."

"So, wait..." Yang begins. "Where did that Monarch guy say the Dome Mechanism was?"

Ruby stares at the gears lost in thought for a moment before answering.

"Above."

The realization of its location springs on her quickly, and Ruby rushes over to her sister excitedly. "Yang! That's it! You figured it out!"

"It was mostly you, though." She says modestly.

"Good job!" Ruby continues. "I'm sure the gears have something to do with it..."

"We need to get them moving, you think? How-" Yang is interrupted as Velvet shouts. "Hey, guys! Ren found a staircase over here. Its aura activated!"

Everyone looks over to where Ren stands with his hand against a panel that glows with the color of his aura. Stairs that seem to be levitating in the air stretch out before him.

"Hey, good job!" Ruby praises.

"I guess that answers how we get above." Yang says.

**Climb up to the top.**

**Disable the dome.**

**End it.**

The stairs lead up to a small platform above the main room.

A single mechanism stands here, at the heart of a spiral of gears.

It's a small spherical glass object; there's a gear inside, and strange looking widget hovering above a hole in the middle of the gear.

"That has to be it, right?" Ruby asks.

"Likely so." Weiss replies.

"So, uh... How does it work?"

"Since the panel downstairs was aura-powered. I assume this is the same...I guess?" Velvet says.

"I remember learning about that kind of thing. In Advanced Aura, y'know." Pyrrha says in support.

Velvet nods. "Same."

Weiss hums at the logic of their words. "If that really is the case, all you need to do is touch it and use your Aura...but-"

**Time to open the dome!**

**Open it open it openit openitopenitopenit!**

"On it!" Ruby interrupts and places both hands on the mechanism.

"Would you let me finish." Weiss says incredulously.

* * *

On the outside of the dome the rest of the world is watching...waiting. An airship hovers near Beacon cliffs, the persons aboard keeping lookout.

_"This is Lisa Lavender and VNN, reporting live from Beacon Academy. It is the sixth day since the school's emergent shield activated, and no changes have occurred. Hundreds of people have gathered around the school to wait. Family and friends to those trapped inside. Though little is known about the situation under the dome, information from Beacon professor Peter Port leaves us growing concerns. General Ironwood of Atlesian military is leading the efforts to break the dome. Dust-based explosive rounds are to be detonated in four hours."_

Outside in the pouring rain many have gathered to wait for a response from those inside the dome.

Ruby and Yang's father watches it with a strong resolve of seeing his daughters again, even Zwei stays loyally beside him.

Penny stands out in the rain, closest to the border of the dome; remaining ever so vigilant.

Within a tent nearby, someone shouts to her.

"Hey!" The gruff voice of Hei Xiong calls out. "Why don't you come sit with us? You're getting soaked!"

Sitting with him are none other than the Malachite twins, sipping on warm tea and looking at the girl with worried eyes.

Penny turns slightly to look at them.

"Thank you! That is very kind! It's no wonder you are Yang's precious friends."

"I wouldn't go _that_ far..." Hei says.

"-But I can't accept you offer. I am to remain here- alert and combat ready- and watch the perimeter."

Penny returns her gaze to the dome, and Hei shrugs.

"Alright then. Suit yourself." He grumbles, but continues to keep an eye on her.

In the airship the VNN crew gather more information relevant to the dome.

"We're here now with General James Ironwood. There's a lot of debate about your plan; most outspoken is Peter Port, who claims no explosive will be able to damage the shield. Any thoughts?" Lisa says.

"We won't know until we try." Ironwood says as he looks into the camera. "That's all I can say. However, I can say with certainty that I _will_ break the seal, one way or anoth-"

Behind them the dome flashes a bright red, interrupting his speech and garnering all the attention.

"-er..."

* * *

"Ruby!" Weiss shouts as the mechanism rejects Ruby's aura and shocks her.

Ruby steps away and looks at her hands, they felt like they were burned with electricity. "That hurt! Why didn't it work?!"

"Ruby! Don't panic!" Weiss began. "I think it's acting up because you're too weak."

"H-Huh?"

"A device like this probably needs a lot of Aura. If you don't have enough, it'll backfire..."

"Do you think...we could all chip in? Combine our power?" Velvet asks.

"Well...Potentially? It might work, but there's no guaranteeing it..."" Pyrrha muses.

"We won't know until we try, right?" Ruby says optimistically.

Meeting each other's eyes everyone, but Weiss, sticks out a hand and hovers over the mechanism.

**Bring back the sky.**

* * *

"...It went back to normal..." Ironwood states.

"What just happened!? Is it opening?" Lisa exclaims.

* * *

Touching their hands against it, they transfer their Auras collectively, and the mechanism glows brightly.

* * *

A surge of energy exudes form the dome, as a flash of light occurs, and it shatters the glass on the airship.

"The windows!" Ironwood shouts.

"Again!?"

Shielding themselves from the shards Ironwood and Lisa gasp at the unfolding events.

The dome is lit with varying colored symbols encircling it, though a single, large red symbol sits at the top.

* * *

The group can feel the effect their Auras are making, as sparks of energy ricochet around them, causing them to flinch. The dome is starting to crack around them.

Inside the mechanism's glass, the small widget slowly moves and clicks into place in the middle of the gear below it. However as it tries to turn there is only a sound of resistance as it grinds obnoxiously; the gear unmoving.

"It's not turning...Does it need more power?" Ruby says over the commotion.

Blake clenches her jaw, one eye shut due to the strain the mechanism is causing. She looks up at the remaining member who has yet to join.

"Weiss!" The young girl is startled by her teammate's voice; an expression of hesitance on her face. "I know it's hard for you, but we need your help to! Come on, Weiss-"

"Jeez." The heiress says. "I was just preparing." Weiss moves her hand, touching her knuckles against the glass. "I haven't given up on you, Blake, so don't give up on me yet, either."

* * *

Outside the dome a flash of blue encircles the top portion of it. The Schnee snowflake constricting and digging its points into the dome; further cracking it open.

Everyone watches with bated breath to see the result of this miraculous moment.

* * *

Inside the dome the sound of a clock ticking reverberates throughout the room. The gears are moving once more.

"It's turning...We did it." Ruby says. "And the dome is..." After all the commotion, Ruby sees that the dome is truly breaking apart; finally opening.

Without another word Ruby dashes away from the pedestal.

"Ruby?" Weiss calls after her.

Ruby can't stop now. She has to see this.

The noise of the ticking is like a taunt in her ears as she presses desperately against the towers' glass window. Yang is next to her in an instant, and with a strong jab of her elbow, she easily shatters the barrier between them and the outside.

Light pours in immediately as the glass falls away, and everyone steps out onto a large balcony overlooking the Academy grounds.

_...There is a certain feeling of disbelief;_

Everyone looks skyward and watch the cracks expanding all across the dome. A large shard falls from above, and the sensation of rain pelts them.

_disbelief which slowly turns into joy;_

Almost at once the rest of the dome falls to pieces, and the gray cloudy sky raining down on them is the most wonderful thing they have ever seen.

_...joy which, slowly but surely, bit by bit,_

Everyone smiles as the barrier dividing them from the rest of the world is falling at last. Ruby spreads her arms wide and basks in the shower with a hoarse laugh.

_is washed away, and replaced by mourning._

Ruby can't stop the tears from coming. Warm salt mingling with icy rain as she clenches her hands into fists.

Beacon is open to the rest of the world, but the events of what had happened, and the toll they took on their minds, will never be forgotten.

Suddenly, Ruby has no idea what to do...

Everyone is a mess. All of them crying and rejoicing simultaneously as they slump to the ground tiredly.

Ruby falls forward, and can't seem to find the strength to even bother sitting upright.

Velvet wraps her arms around Pyrrha's neck, openly sobbing against her as Pyrrha tries- but fails- to not do the same.

Ren sits back and covers his face with the palm of his hand in a weak attempt to hold back the tears.

Yang and Blake sit side by side, arms wrapped over each other's shoulders for support.

Cardin sits up, his expression morose and lost.

What now?

What is there left?

**Go home. Be safe. Don't die.**

**Live happily ever after.**

**It'll be a long road till everything is "normal" again.**

**Yet, you have shown that the impossible is possible.**

**Please, go have fun for once.**

Ruby isn't sure she knows how to do that, but she promises to try.

* * *

**6 years later**

_Beep._

The time reads 8:00AM.

* * *

**A/N: So. RWBYQuest is at it's end. There will be an Epilogue chapter once it is released, but overall this game is over. Gotta say thanks to the almighty GM for creating RWBYQuest, giving me permission to write a novelization of it, and inspiring me to write things in general because of it. Of course my gratitude goes out to you readers as well for sticking with me on here. I hope you enjoyed the ride as you watch my shitty writing grow progressively better alongside this Quest comic; as well as the emotional train wreck you likely had to endure as beloved characters died.**

**For those of you who enjoyed following RWBYQuest the gm has created a new, original Quest Game under the name of "Streetcrows". So far it seems quite interesting, and a few cameos of your beloved characters from RWBYQuest will occur in the comic. I won't be writing a novelization of that Quest as I don't think my skill is up to par for it, and I'd probably mess up a lot of stuff since I know nothing about this new universe the game takes place in.**

**Again, much gratitude to everyone. Keep doing what ya love doing, whether it's writing or some other fantastic label of art. If ya don't try your damnedest at something you'll never know if you'd succeed.**

**Link to that new Quest: ****streetcrows,com**


	53. Epilogue

**I recommend reading the comic if you haven't yet. My writing doesn't do it complete justice.**

** therwbyquest,tumblr,com/post/131052424076/rwbyquest-0140**

* * *

**-Epilogue-**

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

An alarm blares noisily from a night stand, awakening the sole person in the room from their slumber.

"Mrghhh…"

_Be-*click*_

Ruby Rose, age 21, sits up in her bed and stretches her arms over her head, cracking and popping the kinks in her back. Groggily she sets off to freshen up and get dressed for the new day ahead.

_-click-_

"This thing on? Oh, there it goes." Ruby sits in front of a camera situated in her room and greets the audience that will be behind its lens. "Hey guys! Ruby here!...and Zwei, but he's sleepy- It's a bit early in the morning for us. This video's gonna be a bit different than the normal... Not HRT updates this time, haha—" Ruby smiles into the camera, absently scratching a snoozing Zwei behind the ears and back.

"Most of you probably know that today marks the 6th anniversary of the "Beacon Incident" also called the Beacon massacre…..Most of you watching probably also know that I was there."

At that moment Zwei started to awaken, nuzzling against Ruby's arm before looking up at her expectantly and wagging his tail.

"When I started making videos, it was kinda so I'd have a place to talk about stuff…this included. Um…Today I just wanna talk about…stuff that came _after_. And how me and my friends are _now_."

Out of hundreds of hunters-to-be and teachers at Beacon, only eight people survived: Myself, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Velvet, Pyrrha, Ren, and Cardin. The eight of us were deemed clean, after spending a long time in quarantines and labs. After that, there was nothing else to do but go home and try to _forget_.

You can't forget. Time catches up to you; the silence after the storm, when you have nothing to do but sit there and think about everything. All the choices that were made that you wish you could undo. Everything you could have done; all the "what ifs". It catches up to you.

Ren probably thinks about the "what ifs" more than anyone. It's been tough for him, but he's _living_. That's all we can ask for right now. He's got his own place now. Pyrrha makes sure to visit at least once a week. I join when I can! He lives with a cat, Jun—they go for walks together and stuff. Having Jun has helped him a lot. Caring for a pet makes you feel like your life matters. They depend on you. It's easier to go on if you have that. I get that with Zwei, too…It's weird to explain, but…I'm the one who feeds him, and he'd be worse off without me, so that makes it easier.

When Pyrrha isn't with Ren, she's usually with Velvet. Often, Blake is with them, too. The three of them go to a lot of Faunus meetings together. In the end, Pyrrha kept the horns and the stigma, despite the public "subtly" trying to make her have them cut away. She had Blake and Velvet educate her on Faunus issues, from a more…untainted perspective than our textbooks. Some of us became avoidant of conflict after the incident; not Pyrrha. If anything, it lights a fire in her more than before. It seems like with every rubber bullet bruise and slur she receives, her fire only flares hotter. She said "this is me now; might as well use my 'big name' for something worthwhile, while they still remember it." Oh, and she and Velvet are still, like, mad gay.

While a fire has been lit in Pyrrha, it seems Yang's fire has died down completely. She avoids conflict, and is calm. She says being angry and aggressive did her no good, and it has too many associations now. I get that. She asked Junior for a job at his club, which she got. She seems happy. Yang is the type to put up an unaffected front, especially towards people she cares about. She doesn't want us to worry about her or know that she's suffering. That's her thing. But I can still tell.

The state offered to cover the expense and replace the gnarly DIY project of a hand with a more proper prosthetic, but when they opened the hand up, it turned out that the metal is completely fused with Yang's flesh. It puzzled doctors, but ultimately they decided to leave it be, as replacing it would be a far more invasive surgery that anyone expected. I think that 3D's healing powers did this; even her nerves have fused and become one with wires. No human body can do that on its own. In any case, Yang was always able to operate the prosthetic as easily as her original hand, so she decided there wasn't really any harm in keeping Celiclaw, regardless.

Blake lives with Yang, which is fortunate, because if not for Yang, they would just never get up. Blake is tired all the time, and they'd just sleep. I'm kind of jealous that they can sleep so much without nightmares, but sleeping all the time isn't good for you either.

Cardin is alone. He doesn't get into fights anymore. In fact, he doesn't talk to anyone at all. We only know he's in his home because _someone_ has to be picking up the groceries that are delivered to his door.

Weiss lives with me now. With the money her father sends, she can live comfortably even without a job.

_"…Good morning, Ruby."_

Without even trying she can hear me from the way I walk, no matter how much I sneak.

_"Morning, Weiss! You're up early."_

_"Yes, well…Not everyone sleeps in as much as you."_

Yes…Weiss is still mostly the same.

_"Though, since you spend so much time in the bathroom…We will be late if we don't go right away."_

She got these cool glasses, too! They let her see by transmitting tiny signals into her brain. Of course, she had to have some surgery to make it work. It's funny—they had to shave some of her hair to get the operation done, and she said to cut the rest too.

_*Ruby holds up her Scroll* "Smiiiiile~"_

She had always been fond of her long hair, so I asked her why she did that. She said "There's no way I can rock an undercut like Pyrrha does, so I'm cutting all of it. I can't show up next to her looking like a subpar imitation, you know."

_"C'mon, Ruby. We're going to be late."_

I think she was joking, but honestly, that's such a Weiss thing to say that I can't even be sure.

Sometimes I catch myself thinking that our time at Beacon never ended, and I'll wake up back there the next time I sleep.

_"Sorry to make you all wait-! We're here now!"_

_"It's ok, sleepyhead~"_

_"Be nice, Blake!"_

_Everyone (except Cardin) is gathered around a large memorial. Various gifts of flowers and memorabilia lay at its base surrounding it._

But then I wake up again, and I'm out here. And I'm picking up the pieces one by one. And I'm alive.

_Ruby scans the hundreds of names carved onto the slabs of stone. Familiar names of students and teachers are easily recognizable, along with the names of Dead Draw Domination and Forced Move King._

It feels unfair. But we are alive- even if they're not.

We have to care for ourselves, even if they're dead.

It feels unfair, but we have to go on without them. We have to _try_, at least. Probably the most difficult thing we'll ever have to do.

_"Well. We made it another year, huh? Good job, everyone." Yang says. "That makes six."_

_"Yeah. Good work, guys. Proud." Pyrrha smiles wistfully. "…You know, I'm starting to feel like we can really do this. That we can really live."_

_"…Same." Ruby says with a smile as tears begin to stream down her face. "I'm proud of you all, too. I'm glad I have all of you to help me through."_

We'll be okay- someday.

Until then, it's enough to just be alive.

_"C'mon, guys. Let's go get something to eat."_

There is still a sky above, between the rooftops. It won't black out the sun again. I have to remember that.

Everything is over.

We can pick up the pieces and put ourselves back together. We will all be alright- someday.


End file.
